Before you start taking images of people, it is vital that you get their consent to do so. You need to be particularly careful when dealing with children, so it is important that you get consent from the parent, guardian or carer of any child or young person up to the age of 12 (this is called 'parental consent'). After the age of 12 the child can give consent themselves if they are deemed able to fully understand the issue. If it is not felt that they have sufficient understanding then parental consent should be obtained.

If you intend to obtain consent from the pupil (aged 12+) then it is recommended that you inform parents that you intend to do this and suggest that they may wish to discuss this with their child.

It is recommended that you renew the consent form each year where necessary.

We suggest you ask for consent early in a project's lifetime and plan ahead, in case the printed publication is transferred to our website at a later point.

You need a person's consent (or parental consent for those under 12, (as per guidance above) when they are clearly recognisable in an image. A person may be unrecognisable if they have their back to the camera, or they appear out of focus in the foreground of a photograph while the camera zooms in on an object in the background. You should be especially sensitive in the case of children with special educational needs. If you need to get consent for children, you should send a consent form to the parents via the headteacher at the child's school. Remember to allow plenty of time for this, so that you get permission before you take the photographs.

Please note that the consent forms that schools have for school literature and websites do not cover literature produced by Council Services or used on the Internet. You must have a separate, signed consent form for your project.

How long does consent last?
We recommend that you destroy images two years after the date on the consent form, in case family circumstances change, unless further consent is agreed. This is particularly important if your publication will have a high profile, e.g. if it will have a wide circulation or be publicising a conference.

If the images are for a specific project, you may want to state this on the form and agree not to use the photographs for other projects. The member of staff sending out the form must remember to delete whichever options do not apply.

Can I use existing photographs?
You may have photographs on file. If you are re-using older photographs for which you did have consent but probably only for paper publications, we recommend that you renew this consent if you use the images on a website.

If you never had consent, i.e. you had the photos before the Act came into force, you must be extremely careful and apply common sense when using them. For example, never use a picture of an untraceable person on a leaflet about a mental problem or a child that does not have special educational needs on a leaflet about special educational needs. To help you make a balanced decision when re-using photographs, it may be helpful to consider the following:

• For what purpose was the photograph originally taken, e.g. was it taken for a specific project?
• Where was the photograph taken, e.g. was it taken in a public place?
• When was it taken, e.g. is it a picture of a child who could now be an adult?

Your Service photographic libraries will need to be sufficiently well organised so that you can check consent at a later date if you are re-using the photograph. This will be easier if you keep photographs and signed consent forms together. However, you must be prepared to destroy all photographs once the consent has expired.

Are there special rules for putting photographs on the web?
If you are putting photographs of children on the Internet, especially if they can be clearly identified, you should follow the guidance given for school websites. However, there may be occasions when you have good reason for including an adult or child's full name with a photograph. For example, you can include the full name of a competition winner if you have their consent, but it is not acceptable to include the full name of a model used in promotional literature.

What about using photos of staff on the Internet or Intranet?
Services may from time to time wish to display photographs of staff on the Internet.  A likely reason for this is for staff recognition purposes. An 'image' is personal data and must not be processed for any other purpose than it was originally collected for.

Photographs taken for security reasons using a digital camera, to enable access to buildings for example, is a legitimate business purpose for processing personal data. Unless the staff member agreed for the image to be further processed by publishing it on the Intranet or Internet when the photograph was taken, it cannot be used for this or any other purpose without their consent.

Individuals may wish to give consent for their image to appear on the Internet. Others may feel more comfortable with access restricted to their Service only. A choice could be offered about the disclosure of their personal data and their wishes should be respected.
Using images of staff on the Internet requires 'explicit consent.'

Individuals must be made aware of the risk to security when images are transmitted on the World Wide Web to countries without adequate levels of protection for processing personal data, outside the European Economic Area. The best evidence of explicit consent for publication on the web is a signature on a consent form - see Appendix A.

This guidance follows the standards set in the Draft code of practice 'The use of personal data in employee/employer relationships' published by the Information Commissioner's Office, featuring the eight principles of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Can I use photographs from an agency?
If you get photographs from an agency, you should ask the agency to guarantee that permission has been granted. Wherever possible, however, you should use photographs that portray people from the Wakefield district. You should also tell the agency how you will be using the photographs because there are different charges for different situations. Ultimately, however, it is your responsibility to ensure that the agency obtained permission from the people in the photographs, so you might want to get this in writing from the agency.

What else should I think about?
Remember to include images of people from different ethnic communities in your communications whenever possible and to use positive images of disabled people. This will ensure that your photographs are inclusive of the whole community and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Only use images of children in suitable dress, to reduce the risk of the images being used inappropriately. For example, don't use photographs of children in swimming costumes.
You will also need to be aware of copyright implications with any photographs that you may use from elsewhere.

Videos
Before any adults or young people up to the age of 12 can appear in your video, you must get the correct permission, i.e. parental consent for those under 12. You can do this in the same way as for photographs of people, using the relevant consent form. After the age of 12 the child can give consent themselves if they are deemed able to fully understand the issue. If it is not felt that they have sufficient understanding then parental consent should be obtained.

If you intend to obtain consent from the pupil (aged 12+) then it is recommended that you inform the parents that you intend to do this and suggest that they may wish to discuss this with their child.

You must get the permission of anyone in your video who is not part of a crowd and is easily recognisable.

Webcams
The regulations for using webcams are similar to those for CCTV (closed-circuit television). This means that the area in which you are using the webcam must be well
signposted and people must know that the webcam is there before they enter that area. In effect, this means you are getting their consent. However, as with photographs, you must tell the person:

• Why the webcam is there
• What you will use the images for, and
  Who might want to look at the pictures.

MMS phones
Multi media messaging service mobile phones can take and transmit images, which may be personal data. Councils should consider banning the use of such phones particularly in situations where subjects are not fully dressed - sports centres, changing rooms etc

Getting consent
To avoid any problems in the future, you must get a signed consent form before taking any images. For children, you send the consent form to the parents through the headteacher of the child's school. Once you have the signed form, you should keep it on file.

The form must make it clear that you may use the images on a website, as well as in printed publications. For example, on the form you could ask:

• May we use your photograph/your child's photograph in promotional publications produced by the Council?
• May we use your photograph/your child's photograph on our website?

It is important that you make it clear that websites can be seen throughout the world and not just in the United Kingdom where UK law applies.

There are three sample consent forms at Appendix A for Council staff, relating to different situations. You will find the conditions of use for the photographs on the back of all forms.

Copyright
It is important to be sure of the copyright position of any photographs you intend to use, because photographic images are considered as artistic works under the laws of copyright.

Copyright is basically the right given to authors and creators of works, such as books, films or computer programs, to control the exploitation of their works. This right broadly covers copying, adapting, issuing copies to the public, performing in public and broadcasting the material. Copyright arises automatically and does not depend on the completion of any formalities, such as registration. Remember that photographs obtained from the Internet are also subject to copyright. The first owner of copyright is usually the author of the work. The major exception is where such work is made in the course of employment, in which case the employer owns the copyright.

Commissioning and paying for work does not procure the copyright. Contractors and freelancers own the first copyright in their work unless the commissioning contract agrees otherwise.

You should also remember that copyright lasts for over 50 years. Photographs taken after 1 August 1989 are protected for 70 years after the death of the photographer. There are different rules regarding older photographs depending on the relevant Copyright Act at the time they were taken. See below.

Photograph taken Before 1912 - Copyright expired.
1/7/1912 - 1/6/1957 - Copyright expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the photograph was taken.
1/6/1957 - 1/8/1989 - 70 years from when the negative was taken.
1/6/1957 - 1/8/1989 - 70 years from when the negative was taken
After 1 August 1989 - 70 years after the death of the photographer.

Photographs on the Internet that are not owned by the Council should have a photographic credit attached to them. It is your responsibility to ensure that all photographs on your web pages have this credit applied. Photographs owned by the Council do not need a credit.

More information on copyright is available from the United Kingdom's Copyright Licensing Agency (tel: 020 7631 5555; e-mail: cla@cla.co.uk; web: www.cla.co.uk) or International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisation in Brussels
(tel: 32 2 551 0899; e-mail: secretariat@ifrro.be; web: www.ifrro.org).