National Child Measurement Programme

What is the National Child Measurement Programme:

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a national programme delivered across schools in England that records the height and weight of school children in Foundation/Reception year (children aged 4-5) and Year 6 (children aged 10-11).

The programme is used to gather information which the NHS utilisies to plan and provide better health services for children.

Children are not informed of their measurements and a letter is sent to parents informing them of the results.

If you do not want your child’s weight and height recorded, you can opt-out.

What information do we collect within the National Child Measurement Programme and why?

Your child’s date of measurement, sex and date of birth are used to calculate your child’s weight category
Your child’s name, date of birth and NHS Number are used to link your child’s measurements in Reception and Year 6. Other data sets held by NHS Digital and Department of Health and Social Care. may also be linked as this would let us add information from health and education records, where lawful to do so, to understand how and why the weight of children is changing, and how this affects children’s health and education and how we can improve the care children receive
Your child’s ethnicity and address are used to help understand some of the reasons for the difference and changes in child weight across England
Your address is required to send you your child’s feedback letter. This will include your child’s measurements together with information about healthy eating, being active and related activities available in your area
Your email address and telephone number are required as we may contact you by email or telephone to discuss your child’s feedback/ send you your child’s feedback letter by email/ offer you further support following your child’s height and weight measurement

All the data collected is also used for improving health, care and services through research and planning.

All this information is treated confidentially and held securely. No individual measurements will be given to school staff or other children.

What happens to the information we collect within the National Child Measurement Programme?

The information collected from all schools in the area will be gathered together and held securely by Everyone Health.
No individual measurements will be given to school staff or other children, and all information will be treated confidentially.
Information about how Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Everyone Health collect and use information can be found at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/data-protection-and-foi/information-and-data-sharing/privacy-statement/privacy-notice, https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/council-data/corporate-privacy-notice and www.everyonehealth.co.uk/legal-policies/privacy-policy/
All of the information collected about your child will be sent by Everyone Health to NHS Digital. NHS Digital is responsible for collecting data and information about health and care so that this can be used to monitor and improve services. Further information can be found here: digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/our-work/keeping-patient-data-safe/how-we-look-after-your-health-and-care-information
The information collected about your child will also be shared by NHS Digital with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). OHID is part of the Department of Health and Social Care. However, this will always be in a de-personalised form only, which means that OHID will not be able to identify your child. OHID is responsible for working to protect and improve the nation’s health. Further information can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/personal-information-charter
NHS Digital and OHID will use the information from the National Child Measurement Programme to better understand trends in child weight. This helps with the planning of services to support healthy lifestyles in your area. No information will be published that identifies your child.
De-personalised information from the National Child Measurement Programme may also be shared by NHS Digital with other organisations, such as universities. This is to help improve health, care and services through research and planning. This information cannot be used to identify your child, and NHS Digital only ever shares information for research with the approval of an independent group of experts. Further information can be found here: www.digital.nhs.uk/services/national-child-measurement-programme.