pupil information form - what is mandatory?

Brownelephant, then don't. Language spoken has educational benefit but passport number doesn't. Put N/A.

We got asked employment status, company and job title for state secondary I was a bit

The school have to ask ethnicity, nationality, and country of birth- they're part of the census they are legally obliged to return to DfE as a condition of their funding. However, you may choose to refuse to supply the information, and you need to put 'refused' or tick the 'refused' box so they don't need to chase you.
Passport number is not one of the required fields, nor is NI number (what would a school do with that? If you claim FSM, you have to provide proof of receipt of benefits, that's the evidence, not your NI number).
School will also ask the first language spoken/home language- as far as I'm aware these can't be refused (and they're factual not subjective like ethnicity). Funding is given to schools by DfE based on numbers that have English as not their first language.

Department for education does share the info illegally with the home office

There used to be an agreement that allowed the DfE to share details of up to 1500 pupils per month with the Home Office where it was believed an immigration offence was being or had been committed. This information sharing was not illegal as it was related to law enforcement. According to public statements that sharing stopped early last year.

The DfE (NOT the Home Office) wanted information on pupils so that they could see how the progress of immigrant children compared to their peers. This would have been a useful piece of research which may have led to targeted help. However, many parents have refused to co-operate over privacy concerns and also over concerns that this data was being used to target illegal immigrants, which the DfE denied.

From reading the privacy guidelines for pupils on the DfE website, a school can ask for nationality but Passport number is not requested. Some children will not have a passport. There is also detail on who the information is shared with.

Do not forget that Police investigations will be different and they can access more information when making enquiries. There are also new regulations coming info force in May for Data Protection.

Department for education does share the info illegally with the home office.

Is that really the case - as in you work there and know for a fact that it happens? Or is that supposition? (Genuine question!)

Department for education does share the info illegally with the home office.

Is that really the case - as in you work there and know for a fact that it happens? Or is that supposition? (Genuine question!)

NI is for claiming pupil premium which really helps schools
A lot of people don't know their child attracts additional funding
and a lot of people are too proud to claim so schools blanket ask and check everyone and by doing this maximise the funding. They shouldn't be retaining the data at all. WE didn't used to this, and just waited for parents to emerge and suggest they might be eligible. we have definatley scooped up more eligible pupils this way and the money has helped their children.

The school census is a government census that schools collect and provide the results for - its put on a database and the result sent to the DfE. The passport and country of birth thing is a new addition and not compulsory and some people are suspicious as to the governments need for this info. If the school returns the census with a blank in the bracket their return is not accepted so the admin person has to make sure they tick a box that says something like 'information refused' from what I remember (I haven't done it this year)

And if they are anything like my school and the GDPR they will be way ahead of most businesses having had hours of training. The information is collected under section 6 I think - Statutory obligation but the bill isn't actually in effect yet, so they can just do it under the data protection act

Why would you not fill in the information (even though it seems odd to be in the form) how would the data be misused?

You can just say parent refused on any data beyond the obvious.
Department for education does share the info illegally with the home office.

Ni numbers is for pupil premium

Fwiw, ime they say "ooh Ms X you forgot to give xxx details on your form" you say "Really? Sorry about that, can I just ask how that is relevant to my child's education?" The response is usually "oh don't worry it's not essential that you fill it in..."

I.e. they are info mining and know parents would not like it if they knew the reasons for collating the information!

The school needs name, address, dob, phone numbers, emergency contact details. Everything else is up to you. Some things can be about ensuring correct support is in place, some are about tracking ethnic minorities, immigration etc. Some things will bring them additional funding, some things won't.

So long as they have essential information then that is enough. If they feel they are missing funding somehow or some other information that may affect your child's education they are free to ask again - at which point you can ask why they need to know and judge for yourself.

NI numbers of parents might be for free school meal claiming? It’s a huge deal for funding. Although I thought that needed to be claimed specifically, so maybe not. You could always give the school a ring and ask them why.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/609375/School_census_2016_to_2017_guide_v1_6.pdf

Page 66 of this government guidance to schools states that schools should not ask for identity documentation.

I've just filled these forms in for my daughter and was stunned that they're asking for mine and dh's NI numbers! What on earth can they want those for?!

Info here on the schools census and how you can withdraw:
Against Borders for Children
www.schoolsabc.net/

No you don't have to fill in nationality, passport details.

As a pp said the Home Office tried to do this to monitor the number of immigrant children, and allegedly their progress compared to their peers, actually that would have been a hugely useful piece of research, but a lot of people were very concerned about the data being misused so it remains optional to provide.

Ironically DD doesn’t have a passport so I’d just put N/A anyway. Why not do the same

I'm struggling to understand why they would need to know nationality and passport number.