Dear All,
I'm struggling a bit with the CoP in the area of Employee and
Student Counselling. This is what I have so far:
HE and FE Employee and Student Counselling Services should
make their personal data policies on record keeping known to their
clients. Acceptance by the clients of those record-keeping
practices should be part of the contract with the service, as almost
invariably the data will be ‘sensitive’ in terms of the 1998 Act. All
records must be kept securely and remain confidential within the
service. A timescale for destruction of the information should be
provided to clients.
HE and FE Employee and Student Counselling Services should
ensure total confidentiality of client personal data, subject only to
the following exceptions:
· Where the counsellor has the express consent of the client to
disclose the data.
· Where the counsellor believes that serious harm may befall a
third party. if the data were not disclosed.
· Where the counsellor would be liable to civil or criminal court
procedure if the data were not disclosed.
HE and FE Employee and Student Counselling Services should
ensure counselling members of staff are bound by a recognised
Code of Ethics and Practice (e.g. the British Association for
Counselling (BAC) Code of Ethics).
A couple of questions:
Counsellors' notes - would it be acceptable for clients to have
subject access to those notes?
Counsellor supervision - what, if anything, may counsellors
disclose to supervisors vis particular data subjects.
Am I missing any glaring aspects of this area?
Andrew
Andrew Charlesworth
Senior Lecturer in IT law
Director, Information Law and Technology Unit
University of Hull Law School
Hull, UK, HU6 7RX
Voice: 01482 466387 Fax: 01482 466388
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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