MoD claims request for sensitive student data to aid Army recruitment an “error”
Schools Week ; The Daily Mail
‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been blocked from obtaining highly sensitive personal data about school and college students, which had ostensibly been sought in order to help “target its messaging” around military careers…’
‘MoD requests sensitive pupil data…by mistake’
On 5 June 2015 Schools Week reported:
‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been blocked from obtaining highly sensitive personal data about school and college students, which had ostensibly been sought in order to help “target its messaging” around military careers.
A request to access the National Pupil Database (NPD) – which includes children’s addresses, absence figures and parental occupation – was made on behalf of the MoD last year. A spokesman for the government department told Schools Week this was an “error” made by an individual and not in line with its policy.
But ForcesWatch, a campaign group scrutinising army recruitment policies, said the fact the request was denied showed “how inappropriate the MoD’s intended use of the data was”.
The news came to light after the Department for Education (DfE) released details of all requests to access the NPD as part of its transparency process. Only nine out of more than 460 applications since 2012 have been refused.
The level of access requested by the MoD is labelled as ‘Tier 1’ and, if granted, enables users to see the most personal data possible about children.
It includes their full name, address, date of birth, ethnicity, detailed descriptions of a child’s special educational needs, if their parents are in the services, personalised exclusion and absence figures, as well as whether they receive free school meals and details of their academic progress.
The stated purpose of the MoD’s request was: “To determine if we can use targeted messaging to better inform young people of the career opportunities open to them in the Army (Regular and Reserve) so that their decisions about seeking a full or part time job are better informed.
“Details of courses/training an individual is undertaking will enable us to better focus the information we will send them.”
Since the transparency release, the MoD has stressed that the application was made by an “individual outside the Army’s recruitment branch”.
Applying to use the NPD is an extremely complex process. As part of 20 security questions, it asks applicants to provide their computer’s encryption details, as well as details of their network’s settings. For Tier 1 level data, applicants must describe line-by-line why they need each piece of sensitive information and why they are unable to use less sensitive information.
For information to be released, approval must be given by senior DfE staff on the Data Management Advisory Panel.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We only disclose information from the NPD for the purpose of conducting research and analysis that will promote the education or well-being of children in England.”
Owen Everett, from ForcesWatch, said: “That the MoD have now attempted to obtain this vast database of school students’ personal data in an attempt to improve Army recruitment, at a time when Army recruitment continues to be struggling, and when the armed forces policy of recruiting 16 and 17 year-olds is shortly to be challenged in a judicial review, is no coincidence.”
He noted that children with few formal qualifications are overrepresented in the infantry and had a much greater risk of being killed.
“Which students in particular was the Army looking to better target their recruitment at?”
An MoD spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a request was made in error to the DfE for access to elements of the NPD by an individual who worked outside the Army’s recruitment branch. This is not in line with Army policy and the request has been halted.
“The Army does not target individual pupils for recruitment purposes. The Army only visit schools and colleges at the request of the educational establishment in question and provides general career advice and curriculum support to schools.”’
The following day, The Daily Mail covered the story, in a piece entitled ‘How Army tried to pry into pupils’ private files: MoD demanded to know how poor their parents were and their school grades to target more recruits’:
‘Army recruiters tried to access highly sensitive personal details of school pupils to help ‘target its messaging’ about military careers.
The Ministry of Defence officials wanted high-level access to children’s information, including how poor their parents are, where they live and their school grades.
They said they needed the details to ‘better inform’ young people about military career opportunities. The Army is on a recruitment drive as rising numbers of soldiers are leaving.
But yesterday critics said the information request was ‘inappropriate’.
The application last year to the National Pupil Database was revealed in an investigation by education newspaper Schools Week.
The MoD has since said the request – which was blocked by the Department for Education – was made ‘in error’ by an outside individual.
It emerged after the DfE released details of all bids for NPD access. Only nine of more than 460 applications since 2012 have been refused.
The level of access requested by the MoD is classed as Tier 1 and, if granted, enables users to see children’s most personal data – including their full name, address, date of birth, ethnicity, detailed description of any special educational needs and academic progress.
It also shows parents’ occupations, personalised exclusion and absence figures, and whether the pupils receive free school meals – the Government’s measure of deprivation.
The stated purpose of the MoD’s request was: ‘To determine if we can use targeted messaging to better inform young people of the career opportunities open to them in the Army … so that their decisions about seeking a full or part-time job are better informed. Details of courses [or] training an individual is undertaking will enable us to better focus the information we will send them.’
Owen Everett of ForcesWatch, a campaign group scrutinising Army recruitment, said the fact the request was denied showed ‘how inappropriate the MoD’s intended use of the data was’.
He noted that children with few formal qualifications were over- represented in the infantry and had a much greater risk of being killed.
Mr Everett added: ‘That the MoD have now attempted to obtain this vast database of school students’ personal data … when the armed forces policy of recruiting 16 and 17-year-olds is shortly to be challenged in a judicial review, is no coincidence.’
Applying to the NPD is a complex process, asking applicants to provide their computer’s encryption details.
For Tier 1 data, applicants must explain why they need each sensitive detail and why they are unable to use less sensitive information.
Approval is given by the DfE’s Data Management Advisory Panel. A DfE spokesman said: ‘We only disclose information from the NPD for … conducting research and analysis that will promote the education or well-being of children in England.’
Last year, it was revealed the size of the Army Reserve rose by just 20 in 12 months – despite the MoD’s multimillion-pound adverts.
Ministers are cutting the Army by 20,000, while aiming to double the Territorial Army – now called the Army Reserve – to 30,000 by 2018.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘We can confirm a request was made in error … by an individual who worked outside the Army’s recruitment branch. This is not in line with Army policy … The Army does not target individual pupils for recruitment.’’
See more: military in schools/colleges, recruitment, recruitment age, ForcesWatch, education
