Privacy notice - children and young people social prescribing

North Somerset Council is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for the purposes of processing personal data.  For full details of how we use personal data, please see our privacy notices and data protection page.

Sometimes, life can feel a bit overwhelming - whether it's school stress, feeling lonely, struggling with confidence, or just needing someone to talk to. A social prescribing service is here to help children and their families find the right kind of support outside of traditional healthcare.

If a GP or a panel member from Health 2.5 thinks social prescribing could help, they might refer you to a children and young people social prescribing link worker. They will listen to what's going on and help you find activities and support that supports your wellbeing and is right for you. 

This could include things like:

• youth clubs or creative activities like art, music, or drama
• sports groups or outdoor activities to get moving and feel good
• help with emotional wellbeing or mental health support
• volunteering opportunities 
• support at school

The service is free and completely focused on you - what you enjoy, what you care about, and what might help you feel happier and more confident. It’s not about giving you medicine - it’s about supporting you in other ways that make a real difference.

We process your personal information when we receive a referral into our service from a GP or member of the Health 2.5 panel who thinks that you would benefit from children and young people social prescribing. Referrals are currently being made by GP’s within Woodspring Primary Care Network comprising Tyntesfield, Gordano Valley and Mendip Vale GP practices and the Health 2.5 panel.

We must collect sufficient information about you that accurately describes the particular challenges that you are facing so that we can put you in touch with the most appropriate people to help you. We also have a legal duty to ensure that our services are accessible to everyone so we may ask you questions about your age and sex as well as other protected characteristics.

Within the UK General Data Protection Regulation, we are permitted to process the personal information we gather because:

• you have provided your consent to be referred to the children and young people social prescribing service, the contact we make with you, and for the referrals we make on your behalf. All of these are subject to your consent. You can withdraw consent at any time and ask for us to stop processing any new information. You can do this by contacting: socialprescribingCYP@n-somerset.gov.uk
• once you have been referred to us, processing your personal information is necessary in the exercise of official authority vested in us as a local council. The legal basis for social care prescribing is detailed in:
  • Health and Social Care Act 2012 - This Act places duties on Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to promote the integration of health services with social care services, which includes non-clinical interventions like social prescribing.
  • NHS Long-term Plan 2019 - While not legislation, this strategic policy document has strong influence on NHS priorities. It committed to expanding social prescribing through the recruitment of 1,000+ link workers and embedding social prescribing within Primary Care Networks (PCNs).
  • The Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service described within the specification of General Practice Contract for GPs requires GPs to provide access to a social prescribing service to those who may benefit, so as to help meet the practical, social and emotional needs that can otherwise affect health and wellbeing.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation permits us to process sensitive personal information we have told you that we gather because:

• you have provided your consent to be referred to the CYP social prescribing service. You can withdraw consent at any time and ask for us to stop processing any new information. You can do this by contacting: socialprescribingCYP@n-somerset.gov.uk
• once you have been referred to us, we are allowed to process your personal information on the following grounds:
  • Article 9(2)(g) the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. The UK Data Protection Act for example establishes Equality of Opportunity or Treatment as a basis for processing special category data such as ethnicity. Being able to demonstrate equitable access to our services across the different ethnic groups is a task very much considered to be in the public interest. This is supported by section 8(1) of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, Equality of opportunity or Treatment.
  • Article 9(2)(h) allows processing to take place where it is necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services. This is supported by section 2(2)(e) of Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

We currently collect and process the following information:

• your name, address, date of birth and contact details such as your phone number and email address
• your ethnicity and religion
• details of any disabilities or additional health needs
• your NHS number may also be provided by the person referring you into the service
• information relating to your health and wellbeing and why you require the service

The children and young people social prescribing service may also collect and process information on your emergency contact, next of kin and other close family members.

We may share the information we process with our partners as part of delivering the children and young people social prescribing service. These partners include:

• our statutory partners such as health organisations
• community and voluntary sector organisations
• your GP
• mental health providers
• any other organisation identified that can meet your support need

We may also share personal information with our safeguarding team and our multi-agency safeguarding partners, which includes Avon and Somerset Police, if we consider there to be there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life. 

We will otherwise only share your personal information with other agencies if we are required to do so by law for example where we are obliged to share information for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraud.

None of the information covered by this privacy notice will be processed outside of the UK or EU.

We will only keep your information for as long as is required by law and provide you with the necessary services in line with our retention schedule. In general, information related to Early Help via children and young people social prescribing will be retained for up to six years from point of the last contact with the family concerned.

We do not make any automated decisions using the personal information covered in this privacy notice. All decisions arising from the information you provide will be subject to human involvement.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act give you rights over your personal information that we process. The extent of the rights granted to you is determined by the reasons that the processing is deemed to be allowed; we have explained these reasons in the section 'Are we allowed to process your personal information?' The rights that are granted to you relating to the information covered by this privacy notice are:

• you have the right to receive ‘concise and transparent information’ about how we handle your personal data. We achieve this through the use of this privacy notice as well as other privacy information published on our website
• You have the right of access to the personal information we hold about you, the reasons it is being processed, whether it is shared with other organisations, how long we hold it for, and whether there has been a security breach involving your personal data. To exercise this right you can make a subject access request. You do not have to make a subject access request in writing or via the website; you can make such a request verbally if you wish.
• You have the right to request that we correct any data we hold about you that is inaccurate.
• You have the right to request us to restrict the extent of our data processing, for example if you believe that the information we hold about you is incorrect. You might also not want us to delete information as it approaches the end of its retention period. In these circumstances we are allowed to continue to store the information, but not use it for any other purpose.
• You have the right to object to us processing your personal information in the manner described within this privacy notice. You can do this by email to dpo@n-somerset.gov.uk, or by writing to us at Data Protection Officer, North Somerset Council, Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ. Alternatively, you can speak to an officer of the council.
• You have a right to make a complaint if you are unhappy about the way we process your personal information. The procedure for making a complaint is described in the following section.

If you wish to make a complaint about how we handle your personal data, we ask that you give our Data Protection Officer the opportunity to respond in the first instance, but you are not obliged to do this. You can make your complaint directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Our Data Protection Officer can be emailed on dpo@n-somerset.gov.uk.

The Information Commissioner is the designated regulator in the UK for all complaints relating the processing of personal information. If you are unhappy with the way we have managed your information you can seek more advice and raise a complaint via the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The ICO helpline can be contacted either via a webchat feature on the website or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

Finally, you can also contact the ICO in writing at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

This privacy notice is dated 14 April 2025.