Fingerprint technology in schools
Case reference FOI2023/00883
Published 25 May 2023
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act please advise the following:
1) Please provide a list of educational establishments using fingerprint technology for students 18 and under.
2) Please provide your advice to companies which are providers to schools and schools/educational establishments wishing to use fingerprint technology. (This would include advice ref GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018).
3) Please advise if you have been approached by any companies wishing to supply fingerprint to schools and provide all communications you have had with them, this includes all communications, i.e. minutes of meetings, letters, emails, video calls, etc.
4) Please advise if your office has examined or have any details of standards any fingerprint technology hardware and software to be used in educational establishments.
5) Please advise where in the schools fingerprint technology is being used and what is the purpose?
Response
1) Please provide a list of educational establishments using fingerprint technology for students 18 and under.
Herefordshire Council does not hold a list of schools using such technology. To obtain this information you would need to contact each school direct. The contact details for Herefordshire schools are available via the following link:
https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/directory/18/schools-directory
2) Please provide your advice to companies which are providers to schools and schools/educational establishments wishing to use fingerprint technology. (This would include advice ref GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018).
We would refer any companies to contact the schools direct. The council's advice to any schools considering this technology would be to consult their Data Protection Officer and to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment.
3) Please advise if you have been approached by any companies wishing to supply fingerprint to schools and provide all communications you have had with them, this includes all communications, i.e. minutes of meetings, letters, emails, video calls, etc.
This information is not held. If any company were to approach the council about this technology the council would refer them to contact the schools direct.
4) Please advise if your office has examined or have any details of standards any fingerprint technology hardware and software to be used in educational establishments.
The council has a service level agreement with some Herefordshire schools to provide advice on information governance matters. If one of these schools were considering fingerprint technology this service could offer advice to help that school prepare a Data Protection Impact Assessment for this technology, as part of the paid service on offer. However, the council would not examine or hold details of any fingerprint technology hardware or software. To obtain that information you would need to contact each school direct, via the link provided above.
5) Please advise where in the schools fingerprint technology is being used and what is the purpose?
This information would be held by the schools who would be the data controller if any such technology was being used. To obtain this information therefore you would need to contact each school direct via the link provided above.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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