Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which government departments have access to the National Pupil Database.

The data in the National Pupil Database helps give us a clear picture of how the school system is working. We take privacy extremely seriously and access to sensitive data is strictly controlled.

The Department for Education only shares NPD data where there is a legal basis to do, and once robust information security standards have been met.

The Government Departments including their agencies / Non-Departmental Public Bodies that currently have access to data extracts from the NPD data tables are:

The Department for Education

Home Office

Ministry of Justice

Cabinet Office

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department of Health

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Communities and Local Government

Welsh Government

DfE makes available a summary of uses of NPD data, and this is available on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

Separately, where the police or Home Office have clear evidence that a child may be at risk or evidence of criminal activity, limited data including a pupil’s address and school details (but excluding the recently collected nationality / country of birth information) may be requested from the National Pupil Database. The MoU between the DfE and the Home Office sets out how this process works. It is right that we share this data if it helps to keep a child safe from harm or to prevent a crime. A copy of this MoU is available in the house library.