Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made to (a) harness the potential of NHS health data for research purposes and (b) improve the interoperability of existing data sets.

On 2 March 2022, the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced a joint investment of £200 million in data infrastructure for research and development. Over the next three years, this will create a National Health Service-wide health data research and innovation infrastructure which enhances care and sustains the health and care system. This includes making data available to approved researchers in a streamlined and secure way which protects privacy through an interoperable system of Trusted Research Environments. NHS Digital is working with suppliers to ensure that systems across health and care are interoperable.

Through the NHS Standard Contract, NHS Digital is ensuring a common ‘language’ to identify citizens, care settings and the treatments provided. All data collected nationally and made available to research receives rigorous design to ensure it aligns to the standards in the Contract. The information standard for each dataset is incorporated into the requirements definition mandated on health and care providers.