Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 63026 on medical records, for what reasons his Department did not undertake (a) an impact assessment or (b) a consultation on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office, NHS Digital and his Department.

The Department considered the potential impact of the arrangements described in the Memorandum of Understanding, for requests to locate illegal migrants who have lost touch with the Home Office, with due regard to the public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act.

The Department did not consult publicly on the Memorandum of Understanding because it was developed as an internal governance assurance document for pre-existing processes between the Home Office, the Department and NHS Digital.