Data protection reminders

It's important that we refresh ourselves regularly on Girlguiding policy and good practice about how we manage personal information. We're handling data all the time in our roles as leaders, from the data of the young members and their parents/carers, to the leadership team's contact details and beyond. Here are some hints and tips from our data protection lead to help you stay legal and keeping that data secure.

If you need any further support relating to data protection, email our county data protection lead volunteer.
General hints & tips
The following are based on the more frequent scenarios that are reported as data breaches:
  • Use the BCC field if you’re emailing more than one person so you don’t share everyone’s email addresses.
  • Use an up-to-date email address list.
  • Delete the email once you’ve recorded the information on GO or no longer need it.
  • When emailing personal data, send it as a password protected attachment rather than in the main body of the email. Don’t include the password for the attachment in the original email. Share the password in a different way, like in person, or by texting it. Only send a second email with the password if there’s no alternative.

End of term checklist

It’s important you regularly review what personal information have, so at the end of each term, check the Girlguiding information retention schedule and be sure to deal with the following appropriately:
  • Unit information such as adjustment forms, individual risk assessments and new starter forms.
  • Event information such as consent forms, health forms and emergency contact lists.
  • Safeguarding, complaints, accidents and incidents information
  • Finances, governance and legal information

​If you’ve had a lot of girls moving up to the next section, new starters or leavers you may need to review your data more often.
Annual checklist
At least once a year:
  • Check your details are up to date on GO.
  • Confirm with parents/carers that their details and their child’s details are up to date on our online platforms.
  • Remind other volunteers to update their details on GO.
Deleting & destroying personal data
  • When deleting electronic records, make sure to include emails and backup cloud storage. Check the help tab on your email or cloud storage provider to find out how to permanently delete things.
  • When destroying physical documents use a shredder, if possible, as this is more secure.
Further Girlguiding information
The Girlguiding website provides a very good overview on good practice and policy.