Thursday, May 24, 2007

This is just wrong

"Maintained schools have the power to collect pupils’ personal data, including biometric data without prior written consent of parents. Under paragraph 3(1) of Schedule 1 of the Education Act 2002 the governing body of a maintained school has the legal power to do anything which appears to them to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of, or in connection with, the conduct of the school." - Education Minister, Jim Knight
Jesus wept. Couple this with the Government's proposals for greater and easier information sharing across Whitehall and Local Government and it all just makes me shudder.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...anything necessary or expedient..." - what is going through our MP's heads when they vote for stuff and nonsense like this? They are just moronic lobby-fodder and ought to be ashamed.

I can think of many things that might not be necessary, but would certainly be expedient. I suspect they might infringe pupils' yooman rites though. Maybe head teachers should get creative before this law is changed to something sensible? If they can be assaulted for their biometrics (and it is an assault without their or their parents' consent) then they could be put in the stocks and pelted for bullying, say.

Old BE said...

Why do schools need "biometric" data? I managed to get 4 A-levels without my school needing my fingerprint or DNA. If I got in trouble they had no difficulty identifying me and punishing me accordingly.

Chris Paul said...

Where does this quote come from Dizzy? Not like you to not link to sources, although that seems to be kind of thing the judges on Tory Blog of the Year are looking for! You deserved to win mate.

Do you think this was/is an intended or unintended consequence of the 2002 act and has it been tested vs the HRA etc?

Lots of laws have unintended consequences that need to be fixed when found out ... if they are causing any harm anyway.

Anonymous said...

I agree, this is shocking. The governors don't have to have any reasonable grounds for any action they take; it's all subjective. Interested by his reference to 'prior written consent'. Does that mean the parents have to give prior verbal consent? That they have to give consent at all? Do they even have to be informed?

dizzy said...

Chris, it's from Hansard, yesterday.