Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking in the tendering process for the federated data platform contact to ensure that everyone working on the platform has an adequate level of security clearance.
Answered by Will Quince
Security clearance checks will be undertaken for all staff as required once a preferred supplier has been identified for the Federated Data Platform, in line with standard practices.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Federated Data Platform, whether (a) people or (b) organisations with access to the platform to access information that could identify patients.
Answered by Will Quince
The primary users of the Federated Data Platform will be National Health Service hospitals, integrated care systems (ICS) and NHS England. At ICS level, the benefits of the Federated Data Platform will also be realised by local authorities, local government, and the third sector providing health and care services, although they will not access the data within the Federated Data Platform. Only private companies contracted to NHS or social care to deliver services will have access to data within the Federated Data Platform.
Only people with a need to see patient identifiable information will be able to, for example a clinician treating a patient or a theatre scheduler scheduling a procedure. Each user of the platform will only see the data required to carry out a specific task and must have the correct legal basis to do so. At a national level, no confidential patient information will be used, the data will be pseudonymised or deidentified.
Access to data in the Federated Data Platform will always be controlled by NHS organisations and will be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation and Information Governance rules. Use of data in the Federated Data Platform will be clearly auditable and assessed to ensure it meets data governance controls including compliance with legislation. Each use case will require a Data Protection Impact Assessment to articulate the data security and protection principals and lawful bases for deployment.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether private companies in the (a) health and (b) care sector will be able to access data that could identify patients via the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Will Quince
The primary users of the Federated Data Platform will be National Health Service hospitals, integrated care systems (ICS) and NHS England. At ICS level, the benefits of the Federated Data Platform will also be realised by local authorities, local government, and the third sector providing health and care services, although they will not access the data within the Federated Data Platform. Only private companies contracted to NHS or social care to deliver services will have access to data within the Federated Data Platform.
Only people with a need to see patient identifiable information will be able to, for example a clinician treating a patient or a theatre scheduler scheduling a procedure. Each user of the platform will only see the data required to carry out a specific task and must have the correct legal basis to do so. At a national level, no confidential patient information will be used, the data will be pseudonymised or deidentified.
Access to data in the Federated Data Platform will always be controlled by NHS organisations and will be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation and Information Governance rules. Use of data in the Federated Data Platform will be clearly auditable and assessed to ensure it meets data governance controls including compliance with legislation. Each use case will require a Data Protection Impact Assessment to articulate the data security and protection principals and lawful bases for deployment.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether non-NHS providers will be given access to data that could identify patients via the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Will Quince
The primary users of the Federated Data Platform will be National Health Service hospitals, integrated care systems (ICS) and NHS England. At ICS level, the benefits of the Federated Data Platform will also be realised by local authorities, local government, and the third sector providing health and care services, although they will not access the data within the Federated Data Platform. Only private companies contracted to NHS or social care to deliver services will have access to data within the Federated Data Platform.
Only people with a need to see patient identifiable information will be able to, for example a clinician treating a patient or a theatre scheduler scheduling a procedure. Each user of the platform will only see the data required to carry out a specific task and must have the correct legal basis to do so. At a national level, no confidential patient information will be used, the data will be pseudonymised or deidentified.
Access to data in the Federated Data Platform will always be controlled by NHS organisations and will be compliant with General Data Protection Regulation and Information Governance rules. Use of data in the Federated Data Platform will be clearly auditable and assessed to ensure it meets data governance controls including compliance with legislation. Each use case will require a Data Protection Impact Assessment to articulate the data security and protection principals and lawful bases for deployment.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) patients and (b) groups that represent patients on the proposed NHS Federated Data Platform; and whether his Department has identified any concerns relating to the Platform.
Answered by Will Quince
Public facing information was published ahead of the procurement contract notice launch and will continue to be published throughout the lifecycle of the programme. This information was developed with public voice advocacy groups which included medConfidential, useMYdata and The Patients Association.
NHS England continue to engage members of the public directly on complex data topics, such as the public’s expectations of transparency and communications for future stages of the Federated Data Platform through various methods, including through focus groups and public dialogues. Engagement has identified concerns about who will be awarded the contract, who will have access to the data, and how it might be used.
NHS England are working to develop a public facing campaign to run in 2023 to support greater understanding of the power and impact of the use of health data to transform services, improve care and save lives, and to address these concerns.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provision he will make for patients to be able to opt out of having their information stored on the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Will Quince
Where applicable, National Data opt outs and Type 1 opt outs will apply to the Federated Data Platform. These opt outs apply where confidential patient information is being processed for secondary purposes and will not apply to an individual's direct care.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the threat of court action for non-payment of social care charges on the mental health of care users.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. Each local authority is responsible for managing its debt recovery processes under the Care Act 2014. All debt recovery systems should be designed with a full understanding of the needs and capacities of the local population, including how different approaches may impact a person’s wellbeing. Local authorities also have a general duty to promote a person’s wellbeing and, as such, must consider whether debt has accrued due to factors outside of a person’s control.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Wirral West constituency and (b) England who have had debt management procedures, including automated reminders, letter before action and referral to debt collection agency, commenced against them for non-payment of (i) residential and (ii) non-residential social care charges in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No estimate has been made. Local authorities are responsible for managing their own debt management procedures under the Care Act 2014. The Department does not hold data on the number of people who have had debt management procedures commenced against them at either national or local level.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what actions domiciliary care workers should take in the event of a fire at the home of someone they are providing care for; and what guidance the Government provides for those care workers in that scenario.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Certificate Standards are an identified set of standards that health and social care workers adhere to in their daily working life. Standard 13 refers to a care worker being able to promote fire safety by explaining how to prevent fires from starting or spreading and being able to describe what to do in the event of a fire.
The Department does not provide guidance on fire safety but there is a range of advice available in the care sector.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that domiciliary care workers who work shifts longer than six hours receive a break during their shift.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Workers are entitled to a minimum of 20 minutes’ rest break if they work at least six hours.
Workers can call the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service helpline for free, impartial and confidential advice about their rights and entitlements.