1. Administration

The organisations (or types of organisation below are signatories to this Data Sharing Agreement (see specified list of organisations and other relevant details in Appendix 1:

• Cambridgeshire Constabulary
• Peterborough City Council (Education/ Children Social Care/Early Help)
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board (ICB)
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
• Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust
• Cambridge University Hospital Trust
• Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• East of England Ambulance Service
• Peterborough Youth Offending Service
• Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Probation Service (PS)
• North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust
• Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) Service
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• Housing (local authority)

General:

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2. Purpose and benefits

Describe your sharing initiative/project (summary):

Several pieces of different legislation including Section 11 of the Children Act 2014 places a duty on key people and bodies to cooperate to improve the wellbeing of children and young people. Please refer to the overarching Tier 1 Safeguarding Children Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) for a list of commonly cited legislation placing a duty or power to share personal information on partners. These duties include the proportionate sharing of information, where appropriate, to inform decision making where children and young people are suffering or are at risk of suffering significant harm.

A Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is one model to manage multi-agency information sharing. It is a robust model for safeguarding vulnerable children and young people. It is a single point of contact for all safeguarding concerns regarding children and young people in Peterborough within standard working hours. It brings together professionals, from services that have contact with children, young people, and families, and makes the best possible use of their combined knowledge and resources to inform decision making to keep children safe from harm and promote their and their family’s wellbeing. The MASH does not hold children’s cases. It is the Children’s services front door and the first place where Children’s Services and partner agencies will assess the needs and risks pertaining to a child and family, to promote timely decisions which enable families to receive support from the right agencies at the right time.

The MASH model was highlighted in the Munro Report into Child Protection (http://www.education.gov.uk/munroreview/downloads/8875_DfE_Munro_Report_TAGGED.pdf) as an example of good practice in multi-agency partnership working because of how it improved information sharing between participating agencies.

Clearly set out your purpose(s) and benefits for sharing (include a description of the nature, scope and context):
The MASH process helps deliver five key functions for the safeguarding partnership:

1. Information based risk assessment and decision making via the sharing of information available to the safeguarding partnership, in relation those children and young people who require support or a necessary and proportionate intervention.
2. Identification of vulnerable children and young people for whom there are safeguarding concerns and who may experience significant harm.
3. Ensure partners work together to deliver harm safeguarding strategies and interventions through a restorative lens.
4. Identification of those who pose or potentially pose a risk to children and young people, working in partnership to prevent and utilise the full range of outcomes proportionate to the risk. Identify actual or potential perpetrators, to prosecute and/or support where appropriate.
5. Co-ordination of all safeguarding partners to ensure that the needs of all vulnerable people are identified and signposted to the relevant partner/s for the delivery and coordination of harm reduction strategies and interventions.

The main benefits for managing information sharing through the MASH are:

• A more coordinated and consistent response to safeguarding concerns.
• An improved ‘journey’ for the child, young person and/or family.
• There is greater emphasis on early help and better-informed services, this delivers intervention at the right time.
• A clearer process for the professional or member of the public raising a concern.
• Closer partnership working, clear accountability and improved multi-agency communications.
• A reduction in the number of inappropriate referrals and re-referrals.

The MASH will process personal information and special category data of the relevant children/young people and relevant adults associated with the children/young people within the Peterborough area. In 2023/24 2,721 MASH enquiries coming through the front door were completed.

3. Data Controller(s)

All partners to this agreement are controllers and are determining the purposes and means of processing.

4. Data Sharing between partners

Health and children’s services professionals must have the confidence to share confidential information in the best interests of the individuals they look after as set out in this data sharing agreement. Principle 7 of the Caldicott Principles states that ‘The duty to share information for individual care is as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality’. The relevant professionals also must have the expertise to assure that data sharing within the MASH is limited to what is necessary, partners will not share more than needed for the purpose defined in this agreement. Partners who have ownership of the information should ensure that they are permitted to, and it is appropriate to share whilst adhering to Principle 7 as above.

Due to the complexity of the MASH process, providing a prescriptive list of data fields to be shared is difficult. Any information that is shared into and within the MASH process will be decided on a case-by-case basis and must be relevant and proportionate to the aims of this agreement. Not all the above information will be shared in every case; only relevant information will be shared on a case-by-case and ‘need-to-know basis.

5. Lawfulness

Legal powers and gateways:

There are various Acts (refer to Tier 1 Safeguarding Children Data Sharing Agreement, Relevant Legislation) which contain expressed or implied powers to share information. The act providing the statutory framework within which a MASH operates is the Children Act 2004 as amended by the Children and Social Work Act 2017.

Section 10 of the Children Act 2004 created a requirement for children’s services to make suitable arrangements for co-operation between the relevant partners in order to improve the wellbeing of children in the authority’s area. Statutory guidance for Section 10 of the Act states that good information sharing is key to successful collaborative working.

Each [local authority] in England must make arrangements to promote co-operation between

1. the authority;
2. each of the authority’s relevant partners; and
3. such other persons or bodies as the authority consider appropriate, being persons or bodies of any nature who exercise functions or are engaged in activities in relation to children in the authority’s area.

The Act emphasises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of children by stating that relevant partner agencies (which include the Police, Children’s’ Services Authorities and Integrated Care Boards (ICB’s) and other NHS statutory bodies) must ensure that functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard of children.

The Act emphasises that the authorities must make arrangements to promote co-operation between relevant partner agencies to improve the well-being of children in their area. Well-being is defined by the Act as relating to a child’s:

• physical and mental health and emotional well-being (‘be healthy’)
• protection from harm and neglect (‘stay safe’)
• education, training and recreation (‘enjoy and achieve’)
• the contribution made by them to society (‘make a positive contribution’)
• social and economic well-being (‘achieve economic well-being’)

An organisation needs to have a power to share data which may lie either in statute or in common law. The functions of a public sector organisation are set out in legislation, often referred to as ‘legal powers and gateways’. Effective performance of those functions often requires the sharing of relevant personal and special category data. For some organisations the power to share data lies solely in common law although this is unlikely for public sector organisations. Knowing the legislation and common law duty or power that links to the relevant functions of safeguarding will provide a framework to enable the sharing of data to safeguard and protect children.

Relevant Guidance:

• Working together to safeguard children 2023, Department for Education
• Guidance on responding to People with Metal Ill Health or Learning Disabilities 2010, National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA)
• Guidance on Investigating Child Abuse and Safeguarding Children 2009, College of Policing
• Information Sharing advice for practitioners providing safeguarding services for children, young people,
  parents and carers, April 2024, Department for Education
• Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Home Office

Identify the UK GDPR Article 6 lawful basis and Article 9 condition(s):

Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;

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 controller;

Article 9(2)(h) – processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or children’s services or treatment or the management of health or children’s services systems on the basis of domestic law or pursuant to contract with a health professional and subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 3

Article 9 (2) (g) – substantial public interest as set out in the DPA18 – safeguarding children and adults at risk.

Identify the appropriate condition(s) in UK law, set out in Schedule 1,2 & 3 of the DPA 18:
DPA 18, Schedule 1, Part 2 – Substantial public interest conditions:
18) Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk

Please note that an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) is required for the relevant conditions under Schedule 1, Part 2. All signatories confirm that they have an APD in place.

Non-interference with the common law duty of confidentiality describes the duty we have, to keep personal information confidential under case law (not written out in a document (e.g., an Act) but based on previous court cases decided by judges). The law is applied by reference to those previous cases, so common law is also said to be based on precedent.

When sharing personal data with the MASH, the common-law duty of confidentiality needs to be considered. A person cannot use information which was originally provided in confidence, without the individual’s permission/consent, unless there is an overriding reason in the public interest for this to happen or another law or power permits disclosure.

When judging whether disclosure is in the public interest, agencies should consider the following:

• Is the intended disclosure proportionate to the intended aim?
• What is the vulnerability of those who are at risk? – What is the impact of disclosure likely to be on the individual? – Is there another equally effective means of achieving the same aim?
• Is the disclosure in the interest of maintaining public safety?
• Is the disclosure necessary to prevent or detect crime and uphold the rights and freedoms of the public?
• Is it necessary to disclose the information, to protect other vulnerable people?

It must be highlighted that health and children’s services professionals should have the confidence to share confidential information in the best interest of patients and service users as highlighted as one of the Caldicott Principles ‘ The duty to share information for individual care is as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality’.

Non-interference – Human Rights Act 1998, Article 8:
Non-interference with Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 guarantees the protection of individuals right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.

Statutory bodies might be able to interfere with the right if the action is lawful, necessary and proportionate in order to:

• protect national security
• protect public safety
• protect the economy
• protect health or morals
• prevent disorder or crime, or
• protect the rights and freedoms of other people

6. How data sharing will be carried out

All enquiries within the MASH will be triaged to identify whether or not the child is open to children’s services, this will include a check on the relevant information systems (usually including the Council’s Children’s Services System). For children who are open to children’s services or early help partner the information will be forwarded to the relevant case-worker and manager. Where a child is not previously known to Children’s services demographic checks will be completed on the relevant information systems (usually including EHM (Early Help Module) and LCS (Liquidlogic Children’s System)).

Information about a child who is not already open to children’s services where there are concerns about their welfare will be passed to the local authority decision maker in the MASH (i.e. the person who co-ordinates the MASH enquiry) and a new case record will be created. If needed, the local authority decision maker of the MASH will consult with the Police representative to see if a crime has been committed and/or, if the information received into the MASH indicates that a child may be at immediate risk of significant harm. In these circumstances, the local authority decision maker of the MASH will consult with the Police Supervisor based within the MASH and a decision will then be taken as to whether a strategy meeting is required. Police will record this on Athena, and CSC will record the requirement for convening a strategy discussion on the contacts and referral records.

If it is decided that information sharing with MASH partners is required in order to make a threshold recommendation on the basis of need, harm and risk for a child, other relevant agencies (both inside and outside the MASH) will be asked to provide relevant information to the MASH so that the local authority decision maker will have as full a picture as possible when making decisions as to what the best and most appropriate assistance and interaction with the child should be.

All partners will provide contact details for information sharing so that requests for information are responded to within the given timescales. The contact for health is a health professional who as part of the MASH team acts as a conduit for passing information from other health partners to obtain information to assist in the MASH decision making. The contact for education is an education professional who as part of the MASH Team acts as a conduit for passing information from other education partners to obtain information to assist in the MASH decision making.

All agencies contributing information for a child within the MASH will also contribute to the analysis of risk, harm and need and give a professional judgement as to the level of need and which safeguarding partner would be best place to meet these needs. The local authority decision maker in the MASH will review all known information, considering the professional judgement of partner agencies and make a final decision in relation to the next steps for a child and their family. Where further services are required to support or intervene the local authority decision maker will refer the child to that service, passing across relevant information to the agency they have been referred to on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.

Please refer to the Peterborough City Council MASH manual for further relevant details [add link to manual once available].

The appropriate mechanism/method by which data will be shared and held:

All partners to this agreement, who are sending or receiving sensitive personal data electronically, must have a secure e-mail established. If secure email is not available, for example, due to technical failure, then information will be shared in person. All parties subject to face to face or telephone sharing should take account of the environments in which they are holding discussions with regard to visitor access and being overheard by parties not subject to this agreement.

All information will be recorded centrally in the MASH on the children’s services database. However other agencies can and are encouraged to keep their own records so that each organisation is aware of which and how its information is being used. Other agencies or services may be passed information, where appropriate, when further interaction with a child is required. This information may be stored electronically within that agency or service recording systems.

IDVA have access to police systems for purposes of safeguarding clients but are not able to share this information second hand with other agencies. Police staff can access the MARAC system for the purpose of viewing MARAC minutes and actions and therefore to allow a more coordinated approach to collect and exchange information. Sharing and storage of MARAC information is governed by the MARAC Information Sharing Agreement that all MARAC partners are signed up to.

It may be appropriate that hard copy documents are used in meetings within and outside the MASH environment. In those cases, due care should be taken regarding the data held in hard copy and protective marking handling guidance complied with.

There must be a record made by agencies within the MASH of each decision to share information. This must include: (i) the request for sharing information and (ii) what information has been supplied and with whom. Both the request for information and the supply of information should be recorded on the data subject’s file or the incident file depending upon the agency’s IT recording system

7. Processing outside of the UK (Compliance with Article 45 of the UK GDPR

No personal data will be transferred outside of the UK.

If in exceptional circumstances (e.g. children moved outside the UK, unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking young people, children coming to the UK independently) data must be transferred outside of the UK details will be documented of how appropriate safeguards will be put in place. Transferring personal data outside the UK comes with the responsibility of following the relevant rules and safeguards to facilitate such transfers. You should seek advice from your Data Protection Officer on any potential transfers. You must be able to provide the Data Protection Officer with details of what information needs to be shared outside of the UK, who it is being shared with, why it needs to be shared and how you propose to share the information.

8. Review

The arrangements held within this document will be reviewed by the Peterborough MASH Governance Group, initially after six months and then annually thereafter.

9. Ending the agreement

Any party wishing to end this agreement will be required to give 28 calendar days’ notice in writing to the Service Director, Children’s Services Directorate, Peterborough City Council. During this time the MASH Governance Group will be convened to review the implications of the termination.

10. Signatories

If this Data Sharing Agreement is published to a system that manages signatures/agreement, then this section can be removed.

Each organisation should identify who is the most appropriate post holder within their agency to sign the DSA having taken account of their organisational policy and the fact that the signatory must have delegated responsibility to commit their agency/organisation to the agreement. Additionally, each agency will be asked to identify the post which is responsible on a day-to -day basis for monitoring compliance with this DSA.

By signing this DSA, all signatories acknowledge and accept the requirements placed upon them and others within their organisations by the Tier 1 Overarching Safeguarding Children DSA and this Tier 2 MASH DSA and their responsibilities under data protection legislation. A decision needs to be made if the signatory is a list of organisations all signing one document in turn, or if a single organisational signature is collected per copy of the DSA, with a central point of collection and maintained list of signatories.

Appendix 1 – Partners to this agreement

Appendix 2 – SPOC’s