I'd love to see a clear statement from someone in "authority" to the
effect that disclosing to any one member of staff means that the message
should be passed to the Disability Officer - after all, with the best
will in the world, non-specialist staff will never be as good at
advising and counselling the student, and one presumes the Disability
officer would be the sole of discretion should the student then decide
to keep his / her situation confidential.
Surely that is in the best interests of the student, and does not breach
confidentiality???
Dr John S Conway
Principal Lecturer in Soil Science / Chair, Research Committee
Disability Officer
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Glos GL7 6JS
01285 652531 ext 2234 fax 01285 650219
http://www.royagcol.ac.uk/~john_conway/
email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Hubert
Sent: 24 February 2005 16:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Students with mental health difficulties
It's not disclosure to a third party but use of information by the data
controller. Is it 'fair processing' to pass it on? Well, given the
potential
obligation to provide services to a disabled person the question is
whether
the student has disclosed it to the institution or disclosed it to a
particular person and made clear that he doesn't want it disclosed to
other
people even if that may impact on the institution's ability to provide
appropriate services. The institution has a legitimate interest in
ensuring
that the information reaches those who need to know.
Paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "Smith, Tony" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:16 PM
Subject: Re: Students with mental health difficulties
If a tutor is given information about a student's mental health, what
exemption in the Data Protection Act would allow him/her to give the
information to anyone else in the institution without the student's
permission?
Tony
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