National child measurement programme privacy notice

The National Child Measurement Programme ("NCMP"), measures the height and weight of children in Reception class (aged 4 to 5), and year 6 (aged 10 to 11), to assess overweight and obesity levels in children within primary schools. 

The data is used nationally to support local public health initiatives, and locally to inform the planning and delivery of services for children. The programme was set up in line with the government's strategy to tackle obesity, and to:

• inform local planning and delivery of services for children
• gather population-level data to allow analysis of trends in growth patterns and obesity
• increase public and professional understanding of weight issues in children and
• be a vehicle for engaging with children and families about healthy lifestyles and weight issues.

The Council has contracted the North East London Foundation Trust ("NELFT"), to process the data on its behalf. 

Public Health Department

First Floor, Willow House 869 Forest Rd, London E17 4UH  

For enquiries: monica.hill@walthamforest.gov.uk

The information we process is as follows:

• Age, gender, and date of birth are required to calculate weight category;
• Ethnicity and address are required to monitor differences in child weight between ethnic groups, different parts of the country and different social and economic groups;
• Name, date of birth and NHS Number are required to link the child’s measurements from Reception and Year 6 and to other information held by NHS Digital about individual children such as dental survey results or the reasons for any visits made to the hospital. Linking children’s information in this way helps to better understand factors associated with changes in weight prevalence and how this affects children’s health;
• Parent address is required to send parent feedback letters;
• Parent contact details including email address and telephone number are required if digital communication methods are being used and proactive feedback calls are planned.

The information is uploaded to the NCMP IT system, which is managed by NHS Digital. It consists of an online browser-based system, plus an offline Excel spreadsheet-based tool for data entry. The system incorporates validation at the point of data entry and provides a secure environment according to NHS standards in which pupil identifiable records can be processed and stored.

Further information on the NCMP IT system, including user guidance, education materials and frequently asked questions, can be found on the NHS Digital website.

The information about children’s weight helps to build a national and local picture of how children are growing and inform service planning. Individual children are also directed to medical practitioners who can provide relevant advice.

The statutory authority for processing NCMP data is provided by:

• The Local Authorities (Public Health Functions and Entry to Premises by Local Healthwatch Representatives) Regulations 2013; and
• The Local Authority (Public Health, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Health Scrutiny) Regulations 2013.

The lawful basis for processing special category data is based on ‘the provision of health care or treatment’.

Parental consent is not the lawful basis for the processing of NCMP data under the GDPR/DPA 2018.  However, if you or your child wish to opt-out of the programme please contact us by sending an email to nem-tr.wfncmp@nhs.net

In accordance with the data protection act 2018, we need a "lawful basis" for collecting and using information about you. There are a variety of different lawful bases for processing personal data which are set out in the data protection act.

The lawful basis on which we rely in order to use the information which we collect about you for the purposes set out in this notice will be: 

The lawful basis on which we rely in order to use the information which we collect about you for the purposes set out in this notice will be: 

• Public Task
• Legal Obligation 

The information is shared with the NHS Digital who use the data to produce national statistics records showing trends at the national level, differences between groups of pupils and the latest local authority level data.

The legislation relating to the programme also allows for NCMP records to be:

• Provided to children’s parents, together with advisory material relating to the weight of children, and for the advice and support available to parents to help promote and assist improvements to their child’s health;
• Disclosed by NELFT (acting on behalf of the Council), to a health professional that is able to provide advice and support to parents with the aim of promoting and assisting the improvement of the child’s health and to offer any related treatment to the child.

We will retain your personally identifiable data for the year of creation of the records plus 10 years.