Confidentiality

This Confidentiality statement applies to the following services within Campus Life:

• Counselling and Mental Health Service
• Advice and Response
• Occupational Health
• Disability Advice and Support Service

The four support services that make up Campus Life work together to support student physical, mental and psychological health. We share the common goal of promoting the wellbeing of students.  In order to facilitate this we may share information relevant to a student’s wellbeing across the services where this is in the best interests of the student. This is to enable us to coordinate care and to ensure that students don’t miss out on support that may be available to them. In circumstances where there is concern for a student or someone else’s safety or welfare it allows us to respond without delay and to work together to reduce risk.

Confidentiality

The four support services are confidential services and will usually only share information more widely within the University or with others outside the University with your consent. For example, with your permission, DASS will share information about your disability with your School so that they can make the changes necessary to support you, and Occupational Health and Counselling and Mental Health may also provide information to the School or others with your consent

If we do not have your consent, DASS, the Counselling and Mental Health Service, Advice and Response and Occupational Health will not release information about you to third parties unless we have significant concerns about your wellbeing as detailed below:

1. In circumstances where there is concern about your safety or welfare or we become aware of a risk to the safety or welfare of someone else we may share information with other appropriate individuals within the University e.g. School Support Office, Residential Life support, and more senior staff. This will, wherever possible, be done with your consent but in some instances where there is a significant concern we may need to share this information without consent. In such circumstances, this will be discussed with you first wherever possible.
2. Where there are significant concerns for your or someone else’s safety or welfare it may also be necessary for us to contact others such as your GP, other NHS support service or the emergency services. We may also need to notify your emergency contact of our concerns. (For more information see the student emergency contact statement.)

This will, wherever possible, be done with your consent following a discussion with you but in some instances we may need to share this information without your consent. This will, only be done with your best interests in mind and after consultation with and guidance from the Information Governance Office.

Conduct and Discipline

Disciplinary processes may arise at any point and from different sources.  For example, an examiner may refer a case if academic malpractice into the disciplinary process, or another individual may submit a formal report or complaint about the behaviour of a student.  The disciplinary process does not require the student subject to an allegation i.e. Respondent, to agree to the process being instigated; disciplinary action is taken at the discretion of the University.

To appropriately consider a case, information about a student subject to an allegation will need to be shared across a range of staff and areas of the University.  The disciplinary process is mindful of confidentiality but needs to be able to share information of both a personal and senstive nature so that a disciplinary matter can be appropriately handled.  

Commonly, this will includes details of the allegation, a student's name, contact details, academic profile, previous offences, welfare information.  This will be shared where appropriate and proportionately.

Within Advice and Response, where an investigation is undertaken, if a Reporting Party, Respondent or witness provide information about a case, they should expect this to be relied upon for the investigation and with the potential that this information is then disclosed (as managed by the investigator) to other parties, including onwards referral to a disciplinary panel.  It remains at the discretion of the Investigator what they consider necessary to disclose during an investigation with the view to balancing individuals knowing what concerns have been raised against them with maintaining the integrity of the investigation. 

Disciplinary panels do not know what cases will be referred to them, and they tend only receive case information when notified of a hearing.  The individuals that make up the disciplinary panel could come from various areas of the University.  The panel will receive the information for the purpose of considering a case at a hearing and will delete information afterwards, save the Chair who may retain the information for longer until their role in the case has reached an appropirate end point.  At a hearing, only essential redactions of information will be considered, as transparency is key to ensuring individuals have the opportunity to respond to a case and a fair and appropriate decision can be reached. Some information may, however, be withheld until an appropriate stage of a hearing e.g. mitigating circumstances, previous offences.

A hearing will have a record made, usually in the way of notes and an outcome letter.  The notes are retained within Advice and Response, though a Respondent may request a copy of these when they are finalised.  The outcome letter automatically goes to the Respondent.  The notes will either have been from handwritten notes or a recording that is then transcribed. 

Where a meeting is audio/visually recorded, this is not for personal use; it is for the purpose of ensuring the written notes are accurate and is not for onwards disclosure to a Respondent, particularly the parts of a meeting where they are not present.  Recordings are made only with the consent of everyone in attendance.  Recordings should be deleted when no longer required.  

The outcome report or letter from an investigation or hearing will be made available to the Respondent.  Reporting Parties have the right to see any investigation report, but the outcome from a disciplinary hearing (if agreed to be shared) will be limited to the essential details a Reporting Party might need to be made aware of.  Respondents will have the option to challenge disclosure of their hearing outcome, and in the event of a dispute, guidance will be sought from the Information Governance Office.

The outcome letter will be shared with a Respondent's School to individuals who need to be made aware of the outcome.  This may, for example, be Professional Service staff who need to action the outcome e.g. apply a mark of zero, provide welfare support, or academic colleagues who have presented a case or are in a position of responsbility in relation to the student and their studies e.g. Programme Director, Head of School, Academic Advisor, Supervisor etc.  Where the case has come from an area outside the School e.g. ResLife, they too will be provided with a copy of the outcome letter.  Any other disclosure identified as necessary will be done so proportionately and confidentially.   

Outcomes from serious cases, whether from an investigation or a hearing, can be disclosed in references.  The University is under an obligation to provide an honest and accurate reference and so, if an individual is asked about, and they are aware of, a disciplinary matter, they may need to disclose this in a reference.  Similarly, if a student is, or likely to be, registering with a professional body, the Univeristy may need to make a proactive disclosure to those bodies.  If the case has identified issues of potential risk, such as the safeguarding of individuals outside the University e.g. where the University is made aware of a role they hold elsewhere, the University may need to take advice on onwards disclosure from the Information Governance Office prior to disclosure.