King's College London

This project uses linked data from the National Pupil Database and Police National Computer to investigate whether variables capturing youth offending in education records offer an adequate proxy for offence convictions and cautions captured by justice records.

Privacy Notice

Chief Investigators

Dr Alice Wickersham, King’s College London

Collaborators

• Professor Ruth Gilbert, University College London
• Dr Ania Zylbersztejn, University College London
• Dr Louise Macaulay, University College London

Note that collaborators will not have direct access to the raw study data.

Funding

NIHR Development and Skills Enhancement Award (NIHR305704). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Who are we?

The study is being led by Dr Alice Wickersham at King’s College London. This research study is being conducted within the King’s College London governance framework which ensures that our work is carried out to high scientific and ethical standards.

We will be using information from the National Pupil Database and Police National Computer to undertake this study. The data owners and data controllers are the Department for Education (DfE) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Dr Alice Wickersham from King’s College London has made an application to the DfE and MoJ to use these data.

The DfE and MoJ will share data extracts with Alice Wickersham, who will process the extracts for their permitted use as an independent controller and in accordance with the Data Sharing Agreement. All data will be accessed via the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service (ONS SRS). The ONS SRS is accessed in safe settings such as safe rooms on ONS sites or approved locations in King’s College London or University College London.

If you need to contact us about this privacy notice, please write to Dr Alice Wickersham (alice.wickersham@kcl.ac.uk).

Why are we processing your personal information?

We are processing your personal information as part of a research study which aims to investigate whether variables capturing youth offending in education data offer an adequate proxy for offence convictions and cautions captured by justice data.

What is the source of the personal data?

We will be using data from the National Pupil Database (data owner: DfE) which has been linked to the Police National Computer (data owner: MoJ). The DfE collects personal data from educational settings and local authorities via various statutory data collections.

These data are not publicly available, but can be accessed with permissions from both data owners. The research team are not able to facilitate access to the data. For more information about the Department of Education’s data sharing process, please visit the relevant page on the UK Gov website.

What categories of personal data are being collected?

This analysis will focus on pupils born in the period 1996 to 2002. We will request data on pupil characteristics from the School Census (gender, ethnicity, local authority, and socioeconomic status), National Client Caseload Information System, Children Looked After, and Individualised Learner Record, and data on offending information from the Police National Computer (including offence date and type).

How do we keep your information safe and secure?

All data will be accessed electronically via the ONS SRS, which is accessed in safe settings such as safe rooms on ONS sites or approved locations in King’s College London or University College London. Data are not permitted to leave these settings.

The ONS SRS is only accessible to ONS Accredited Researchers with an SRS login and password. The data extracts supplied to the research team for analysis will be de-identified, meaning identifiable information will have been removed (e.g. name, address, email, phone number). Dr Alice Wickersham is the ONS Accredited Researcher who will be accessing the data for this project.

Outputs will contain only anonymous, aggregated data. To ensure that no sensitive or personally identifiable data are released, we will follow guidance set out in the ONS Safe Research Training on maintaining data confidentiality and apply Statistical Disclosure Control, by:

• Complying with the ‘Five Safes Framework’
• Looking at data to identify disclosure risk
• Options for avoiding cell counts <10 (cell suppression; detail reduction; rounding; redesign output, etc.)
• Complying with SRS procedures for output, pre-publication and publication clearance

What is our ‘legal basis for processing’?

Data protection legislation allows us to use personal information in this way because it is required for our public purpose as a teaching and research institution. Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e)).

The condition for processing special categories of data is that it is necessary for archiving, scientific, historical research or statistical purposes (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(j)).

We believe this project is in the public interest because understanding the quality of offending variables in education records may lead to subsequent research on health and criminal justice involvement using other linkages, which could inform early identification and crime prevention strategies for children.

Efforts to mitigate offending, re-offending, and health inequalities are of national social and economic benefit. We believe that this is proportionate, and could not be carried out using other methodologies due to issues like data quality and bias.

How long do we keep your information for?

Dr Alice Wickersham will retain access to the data until December 2027 via the ONS SRS. The research team are not responsible for data storage and archiving in the SRS.

Do we share your information with other organisations?

The research team will not share your information with any external organisations. The research team are not responsible for data sharing with other organisations.

What are your rights and who can you contact if you have a concern?

King’s College London will not be directly storing these data. The research team will only access the data electronically via the ONS SRS in safe settings such as safe rooms on ONS sites or approved locations in King’s College London or University College London.

For any data that the university does hold about you, you can find out more about how the university deals with your personal information, including your rights and who to contact if you have a concern, read the university’s core privacy notice.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Our Data Protection Officer is Olenka Cogias, and you can contact them at Department of Business Assurance, Office of the Chairman & College Secretariat, King's College London, Room SW1.09, Somerset House East Wing, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS; or email: info-compliance@kcl.ac.uk.

General enquiries

For general enquiries relating to the study, or to find out more about how we use your information, please contact Dr Alice Wickersham (alice.wickersham@kcl.ac.uk).

Our privacy notices are regularly reviewed and updated.

Last reviewed: 10/07/2026
Last updated: 10/07/2026
Updated by: Dr Alice Wickersham