Definitions

This agreement is between Department for Education (DfE) (referred to as “we” below) and you as a guest or user (referred to as “you” below). For information about DfE see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education.

“DATA CONTROLLER” means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. The data controller for the Checking Exercise Website is DfE.

“PERSONAL DATA” means information about a living individual who can be identified from that information and other information which is in, or likely to come into, the data controller's possession.

“DATA SUBJECT” is the living individual who is the subject of the personal data.

“DATA PROCESSOR” in relation to personal data, means any person (other than an employee of the data controller) who processes the data on behalf of the data controller.

“DESTINATION” in relation to a former pupil or former student, means the educational activity or otherwise of such a person in the year from 1st October to the next 30th April following the person’s final year in a school or institution in England within the further education sector (a Further Education Institution or FEI).

“THIRD PARTY” in relation to personal data, means any person other than: (a) the data subject, (b) the data controller, or (c) any data processor or other person authorised to process data for the data controller or processor;

A “USER” is an authorised person with a unique active username that is linked to them within the Checking Exercise Website, working for the organisation to which the username is issued.

An “ADMINISTRATOR” is a user with additional privileges.

A “GUEST” is any person, other than a user, who accesses the website.

Note: If you have a username but are not working for the organisation to which your username is issued then you are a guest and therefore your access is restricted by these terms and conditions.

Acceptance

Access and use of the Checking Exercise Website featuring these terms and conditions constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions. They take effect from the date on which you first use this website.

Users must additionally indicate your agreement to these terms and conditions by selecting the box.

You should print a copy of this page for your records.

Using the Checking Exercise Website

You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes and in a manner that does not infringe the rights of or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of this site by any third party. Such restriction or inhibition includes without limitation conduct which is unlawful or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person and the transmission of obscene or offensive content or disruption of normal flow of dialogue within this site.

You are prohibited from posting or transmitting via this website any unlawful, defamatory, obscene, offensive or scandalous material, or any material that constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, likely to give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violates any law. We will fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order lawfully requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting any such information or materials on this website. The data controller will monitor the database for inappropriate use.

Users may access the part of the Checking Exercise Website protected by a username and password provided they comply with these terms and conditions.

Guests are prohibited from accessing or attempting to access the part of the Checking Exercise Website protected by a username and password.

You consent to using your personal data as described in this website’s privacy policy. You consent to the storage of cookies by the Checking Exercise Website on your computer’s hard drive.

Under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 it is an offence to gain unauthorised access to a computer system or to make unauthorised modifications of computer data.

Using and sharing personal data obtained from the Checking Exercise Website

Users agree to use personal data only for lawful educational purposes in the interests of the pupil or student and not for any other purpose. Users accessing the data about individual pupils or students in this database must recognise the privacy of that data and agree at all times to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. Users must ensure that use of the data, to which Users have access, is consistent with the purpose for which the database was set up and that Users do not use the data for any other purpose. Users must ensure they process data securely and data are not subject to any unauthorised use or disclosure.

Users may share personal data contained within the Checking Exercise Website only with those who need the information to discharge a statutory education function.

You must not retain personal data from this system in the Local Authorities’ (LA's) own systems, or on electronic or paper-based records, for pupils or students who are not on the roll of schools or a FEI (whichever the case may be) within your LA.

Users must not print, save, record or publish in any way, any pages from the web site that contain any pupil or student-specific information. This includes, but is not limited to, the results of any searches you perform on the database.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) regulates compliance with the 2018 data protection legislation and can provide you with independent and impartial advice and guidance. The ICO can be contacted here: https://ico.org.uk and 0303 123 1113.

Destination

Users agree to use information concerning a pupil or student destination in accordance with the same purposes and conditions as set out in the above section on “Using and sharing personal data obtained from the Checking Exercise Website”.

Information concerning a pupil or student destination will enable schools and FEIs to: (i) more accurately self-assess their curriculum and the advice, guidance and support they give to pupils and students; and (ii) have more confidence in the information when they can directly see which pupils and students it relates to.

Users accessing this information must not use it to contact the former pupil or former student to whom it relates.

Data protection limitations on entering data into text fields

Users who work in schools, FEIs and LAs are provided with facilities to enter data into text fields.

In addition to the general limitations covered in the “Using the Checking Exercise Website” section, users are reminded that personal data must be processed fairly. Users must only enter personal data about pupils, students, parents, carers, individuals in the school or FEI workforce or others if the personal data are covered by the school’s or the FEI’s privacy notices.

The DfE suggested full texts for school’s privacy notices are available on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-and-privacy-privacy-notices

The suggested text for FE college’s privacy notices is available through the ILR specification at Appendix F

ILR specification, validation rules and appendices 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Users must check their school’s and FEI’s privacy notices and comply with their data protection responsibilities.

Username and Password

Users must:

• avoid keeping a record (e.g. paper, software file or PDA) of passwords, unless this can be protected securely
• not include passwords in any automated log-on process;
• use passphrases rather than passwords;
• not use the same password for business and non-business purposes;
• inform their administrator if they suspect a security incident has occurred;
• ensure they either log-off the Checking Exercise Website or lock their PC if they leave it unattended; and
• only access this website from an owned, trusted and updated device with Anti-Virus software enabled

We recommend users:

• adopt a clean desk and clean screen approach to reduce the risk of unauthorised access or damage to papers, media, and the Checking Exercise Website; and
• undertake cyber security training for school staff.

Administrator responsibilities

Administrators accept responsibility for the secure management of Checking Exercise Website usernames within their organisation and for ensuring their organisation has appropriate security measures in place to protect personal data from Checking Exercise Website.

Administrators must:

• ensure the identity and appropriate checks have been made on an individual prior to issuing them with a username and password. Appropriate checks include checking a person’s suitability to access children’s personal data;
• only issue a non-transferable username and password that is linked to an individual user. Ensure that the new username and password are communicated to the user in a secure manner. Leaving these details in a pigeon-hole would be inappropriate;
• ensure that upon termination of employment or transfer to a role where access to this data would not be appropriate, a user’s account/username is deleted. Additionally, the administrator must ensure the user no longer retains any personal data obtained from the Checking Exercise Website;
• ensure that the identity of a person prior to resetting their password and communicate the new password to the user in a secure manner;
• never ask Users to disclose passwords;
• never recycle a username or password;
• transfer their Administrator Privilege to another username when they leave;
• ensure Usernames and Passwords are never shared;
• never send an unsolicited email to Users asking them to logon to Checking Exercise Website;
• inform the Schools Helpline of any suspected security incident that may compromise the Checking Exercise Website (including where the incident takes place at a FEI);
• periodically review the list of usernames under their control to ensure that the list does not contain names that should have been removed; and
• discourage users from connecting to this website from an unsecure public internet connection.

Malicious software (Malware)

Virus protection, worms, trojans & keyloggers

We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. You must take your own precautions to ensure that the process which you employ for accessing this website does not expose you to the risk of viruses, malicious computer code or other forms of interference which may damage your own computer system. It is always wise for you to run an anti-malware product on all material downloaded from the internet.

Do not connect to the Checking Exercise Website from an unsecure public internet connection.

We cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material derived from this website.

Hoax Messages / Phishing

DfE, LA, school and FEI administrators will never send an unsolicited email to you asking you to logon to the Checking Exercise Website or ask for your password. You must not respond to such a request. Should you receive such a request please report it to your administrator who should then report it to DfE.

Disclaimer

The Checking Exercise Website and material relating to government information, products and services (or to third party information, products and services), is provided 'as is', without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security, completeness and accuracy.

We do not warrant or represent that the functions contained in the material available on this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy or reliability of the materials.

In no event will we be liable for any expense, loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any expense, loss or damage whatsoever arising from use, or loss of use, of data, or loss of profits, arising out of or in connection with the use of, or reliance on its content.

No data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Whilst we strive to protect such information, we do not warrant and cannot ensure the security of any information which you transmit to us. Accordingly, any information which you transmit to us is transmitted at your own risk.

Governing law

These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Links to external websites

Links on the Checking Exercise Website will lead to other websites which are not under our control. We are not responsible for the content of any linked site. Listing and linking should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind and we accept no liability in respect of the content. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and have no control over the availability of the linked pages.

Linking to the Checking Exercise Website

We welcome and encourage other websites to link to the Checking Exercise Website. You have permission to link to https://tableschecking.education.gov.uk. You must not link to any other pages on this website. Automated login is prohibited.

Variation

We may at any time revise these terms and conditions without notice. Please check regularly. Continued use of the Checking Exercise Website after a change has been made is your acceptance of the change.

General

We accept no liability for any failure to comply with these terms and conditions where such failure is due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

If we waive any rights available to us under these terms and conditions on one occasion, this does not mean that those rights will automatically be waived on any other occasion.

If any of these terms and conditions are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining terms and conditions shall nevertheless continue in full force.