Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that personal data, including DNA, that has been received through covid-19 tests, particularly laboratory-based PCR tests, (a) has and (b) will not be shared with (i) pharmaceutical companies, (ii) insurers and (iii) other bodies that are external to the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Personal data may be shared by the UK Health Security Agency in the context of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help operate all elements of the Test and Trace service including with bodies external to the National Health Service.

This data will not be used for any purpose that is not linked to the control and prevention of COVID-19. We follow best practice to help protect personal information and comply with the law on the use of data, including the Data Protection Act 2018, and also require any organisations we work with to do so.

A full list of the organisations we share data with for Test and Trace purposes, and the reasons for doing so, is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-privacy-information/test-and-trace-overarching-privacy-notice#appendix1