Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2015 to Question 220819, who appointed Tim Kelsey as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the care.data programme; what the role of SRO involves; to whom Mr Kesley is accountable; and whether the composition of the programme board was decided by Mr Kesley.

Tim Kelsey, was appointed as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) in March 2014 on the departure of the programme’s previous SRO by the Department’s then Director General for Information, Governance and Operations and Informatics Accountable Officer (IAO). He is accountable to the Department of Health’s Director General for Innovation, Growth and Technology, who is also the Department’s IAO.

The SRO is accountable for successful delivery of the care.data programme and its benefits for the health and care system. This involves ensuring the project is set up for delivery, is managed and resourced well, that it delivers the benefits required and manages costs and risks.

The Programme Board was reconstituted in June 2014 following a Project Validation Review carried out by the Major Projects Authority. Programme Board members were formally invited to join by Tim Kelsey, the SRO, based upon the requirement identified by the review for a balance of representation from the Department, those arm’s length bodies with involvement in the programme and representation from those involved in the delivery of the programme at a local level.