Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Statistics Office and The Teaching Council

Memorandum of Understanding between the Central Statistics Office and The Teaching Council in relation to information concerning the Register of Teachers in Ireland

Table of Contents

• List of abbreviations. 3
• Definitions of Terms. 3
• Establishment of the Parties. 3
• The Role of the Parties. 4
• Context and background. 4
• Purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding. 5
• Responsibilities of each Party. 5
• Legal background. 6
• Transfer, security and data storage. 6
• Joint Liaison Group. 7
• Duration and Review of the Memorandum of Understanding. 7

This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is made on the 31^st day of August 2023 between The Central Statistics Office, Skehard Road, Cork, T12 X00E (CSO) and The Teaching Council, Block A, Maynooth Business Campus, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, W23 Y7X0.

List of abbreviations

Definitions of Terms

Establishment of the Parties

The CSO was established in 1949 and became a statutory body in 1994, under the Statistics Act, 1993 (the ‘Act’).

The Teaching Council was established on a statutory basis in March 2006, under the Teaching Council Acts 2001 - 2015.

The Role of the Parties

The functions of the CSO are set out in the Act.  In particular Section 10 states that the functions of the Office are the collection, compilation, extraction and dissemination for statistical purposes of information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions in the State.  The Office has the authority to co-ordinate official statistics compiled by public authorities to ensure, in particular, adherence to statistical standards and the use of appropriate classifications and has the authority to assess the statistical potential of the records maintained by public authorities and to ensure that the potential is realised.  Furthermore, the CSO has legal obligations regarding the development, production and dissemination of European statistics under Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 of 11 March 2009.

The Teaching Council’s statutory functions are set out in the Teaching Council Acts 2001 to 2015 and include the following:  

• promote and regulate the teaching profession.  
• maintain and improve standards of teaching, knowledge, skill, and competence.  
• establish and maintain the register of teachers.  
• conduct inquiries into and, where appropriate, impose sanctions in relation to, the fitness to teach of any registered teacher.  
• establish, publish, review and maintain a code of professional conduct for teachers, which will include standards of teaching, knowledge, skill and competence, and  
• promote teachers’ ongoing learning.  

Context and background

The Act assigns the CSO authority to assess the statistical potential of the records maintained by public authorities and, in conjunction with them, to ensure that this potential is realised.  This MoU sets out areas of mutual responsibility and understanding between the CSO and The Teaching Council in the use of administrative data for statistical purposes in accordance with Section 30 of the Act.

Purpose of the MoU

The purpose of this MoU is to clarify the roles and responsibilities of, as well as the areas of cooperation between, the CSO and The Teaching Council regarding information concerning the Register of Teachers (the ‘Data’).

This agreement is a MoU and is not intended to create binding or legal obligations on either Party.  The MoU is entered into on the understanding that it is subordinate to the relevant legislation governing each Party.

This MoU also sets out a shared understanding of the parties in relation to data protection issues that may arise and roles relating to the compilation, transfer and use of the Data.  The processing of personal data of data subjects is governed by the Act, the Data Protection Act, 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation.

Responsibilities of each Party

The data controller for personal data is The Teaching Council.  When the data is transferred to the CSO, the CSO becomes the data controller for the data file it holds.  The Teaching Council remain the data controllers for the data file they hold. It follows then that it is the responsibility of the CSO to report any personal data breach (a ‘Breach’) relating to the Data it holds.

In the event of a Breach relating to the data held by the CSO, the CSO will inform the Data Protection Officer of The Teaching Council and also inform The Teaching Council of the breach through the Joint Liaison Group (JLG).  This notification will be made within 24 hours.  In addition, the CSO will refer to their own data breach procedures and may report the breach to the Data Protection Commission as appropriate.  The Teaching Council will not be held responsible for any loss, damage or injury caused as a result of such a breach.

In the event of a breach relating to the Data the CSO will inform The Teaching Council through the JLG, in advance, of any decision to issue a public statement in relation to the breach.  Similarly, The Teaching Council will inform the CSO through the JLG, in advance, of any decision to issue a public statement in relation to the breach.

The Teaching Council will not provide additional data or operational support in respect of the notification of data subjects in the event of a breach relating to CSO data.

Legal background

Transfer and processing of the Data shall be done in accordance with the Act, the Data Protection Act,-2018, the General Data Protection Regulation, EU law and in accordance with the CSO’s Code of Practice, in particular its protocol on data matching where one or more datasets originate from outside of the CSO.

The transfer and processing of the Data is covered by, inter alia, the following provisions:

• Section 10 of the Act, concerning the functions of the CSO;
• Section 13 of Act, concerning the statistical independence of the Director General of the CSO;
• Sections 30 and 31 of the Act concerning the use of the records of public authorities for statistical purposes;
• Sections 32 and 33 of the Act, concerning the protection of information;
• Article 6(1)(e) of the General Data Protection Regulation;
• Article 89 of the General Data Protection Regulation;
• Section 42 of the Data Protection Act 2018;

Data transfer, security and data storage

The data shall be transferred to the CSO at the frequencies outlined at Appendix 1.  The Teaching Council shall not be required to furnish data more than once, however further data extracts may be sent if agreed between the parties to be necessary.  The transfer will be in the form of an encrypted file via a secure file transfer protocol or a secure SharePoint link.  

Data will be retained, securely stored and processed by the CSO in accordance with CSO and ADC Data Policies.

The Teaching Council will provide the CSO with the data in an agreed format.  Information on data formats shall be provided by The Teaching Council in respect of the data files schedule.  In accordance with CSO policies on the control of Data the CSO will not copy this Data onto removable media (including laptop computers) unless appropriate security provisions are in place (i.e., encryption and password access) and there is an agreed business need to do so, in which case the CSO will inform The Teaching Council of such need via the JLG.

Joint Liaison Group

A Teaching Council and CSO Joint Liaison Group (JLG) will be convened, in accordance with the CSO’s standard Data Governance Framework.  The JLG will oversee the data sharing as agreed between the parties and summarised in this MoU.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the JLG will be agreed between The Teaching Council and the CSO.  The ToR will cover, amongst other things, membership of the JLG, frequency of meetings and scope of the JLG.  Changes to the ToR must be jointly agreed by both parties.

Duration and Review of the MoU

This MoU will be published on the CSO website (www.cso.ie) and the Teaching Council website (www.teachingcouncil.ie).

This MoU will cover the once off transfer of agreed Data from the Teaching Council to the CSO in September 2023. 

Any changes to the MoU shall only be made with the mutual agreement of The Teaching Council and the CSO.

Appendix 1

Variables held on the REGISTER OF TEACHERS to be used by the CSO to generate statistics that will support Teacher Supply and Demand initiatives

The following are requested in accordance with Section 30 of the Statistics Act, 1993. Data is to be provided up to July 2023 for all years available and annually going forward.

Personal

• Name under which he or she carries out her professional duties as a registered teacher
• Any other and/or previous names by which the registered teacher is or was known
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Personal Public Service Number (PPSN)
• Postal Address for correspondence, to include address for the service of notices by or on behalf of the council under the Acts

Registration

• Date of registration
• Registration status (full or conditional)
• Registration number

Qualifications

• Third level qualifications
• Route of registration
• Alternative route by which the registered teacher could have also gained registration (if applicable)
• Subject(s) or area(s) of study through which deemed eligible for registration (if applicable)

Employment

• Name and address of employer
• Current post including any posts of responsibility held