Last updated: 28 June 2023

Next review: 28 June 2024

Who we are and what we do

The Council’s Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) team has received funding from the Home Office to work with Respect Project and the London Metropolitan University to help implement the Safe and Together approach. Safe and Together is a model developed to support children and family services and surrounding systems to improve the response to domestic abuse.

Contact information:

Vawg@walthamforest.gov.uk

safeandtogether@walthamforest.gov.uk

Information we hold about you

The Council already holds some personal data in order to fulfil its statutory duties to provide services to families.

This data includes:

  • Name
  • Dates of birth
  • Post code

The following types of special categories of personal data are also collected:

  • Racial or ethnic origin
  • Religious or philosophical beliefs
  • Data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation

In addition to this, the following types of information are also sometimes collected:

  • Safeguarding measures and interventions
  • Family context
  • Details of the abuse perpetrated

The information above is already held and will be shared with LMU anonymously so that they can evaluate the effectiveness of the S&T project, please see the section below ‘Who your information will be shared with’.

Information will also be shared with Respect Project as the Council’s main delivery partner for this project, the data will be shared anonymously.

Workforce data will also be collected via anonymous surveys.

Why we need your information and how we use it

The primary aim of the Safe and Together (S&T) model is to embed the S&T approach across council systems and the purpose of this current project is to improve responses to domestic abuse, upskill children's social care workforce and improve outcomes for families.

The Respect Project will be the main delivery partner for the project and the LMU is responsible for the evaluation of the project focussing on the following areas:

  • Changes in child protection data outcomes
  • Changes in perpetrator intervention outcomes
  • Changes in workforce confidence/ engagement outcomes
  • Staff surveys/ focus groups
  • Perpetrator focus groups

See The Respect Project's privacy notice

The lawful basis for the processing

The lawful basis is Article 6(1)(e), processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Data Controllers.

For more details on the Lawful Basis see the ICO guidance.

Who your information will be shared with

The Respect Project

Anonymous data will be shared with Respect in order to deliver the project. The Respect Project will be acting as a Data Controller, please see their privacy notice.

London Metropolitan University

The Child and Women’s Abuse Studies Unit of London Metropolitan University (CWASU) will evaluate the project to measure its effectiveness. CWASU will be provided with anonymous data. The data however will include special category data as listed above in the ‘Information we hold about you’ section in order to provide context.

LMU will also collect information about the engagement and confidence of the workforce via anonymous surveys.

How long we will keep your information

The Council already holds some of the data in carrying out its statutory duties towards families in the borough. For the purposes of this project, any newly collected personal data that is shared between the parties will not be retained or processed for longer than necessary to carry out the purposes of the project.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)