Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer from the Secretary of State for Health of 2 January 2015 to Question 219648, if he will make arrangements for any decision to start collecting care.data information from GP practices to be approved by the House.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 empowers the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to require organisations providing care funded by the National Health Service to submit data to it when directed by the Secretary of State for Health or by NHS England.

The decision to proceed with fair processing and data extraction from the pathfinder practices will be taken by the care.data Programme Board. NHS England and the HSCIC will be required to give their approval to proceed as Joint Data Controllers as a pre-requisite to Board approval.

This collection will only take place once the National Data Guardian, Dame Fiona Caldicott, is satisfied it is right and safe to do so.