Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 August 2025 to Question 68971 on General Practitioners: Disclosure of Information, with which stakeholders the impact of information sharing duties on GPs was last discussed; and at what forums this was discussed.

Keeping children safe is a priority for the Government. The new information sharing duty will clarify when a child’s information should be shared, which should ease the overall burden on practitioners. It will be supported by statutory guidance, and we will work closely with multi-agency partners to ensure effective implementation.

To ensure the impact on general practitioners is effectively captured in the information sharing duty, the Department have consulted the following stakeholders:

- Action for Children;

- Barnardo’s;

- British Association of Social Workers;

- Domestic Abuse Commissioner;

- General Medical Council;

- Royal College of General Practitioners;

- Information Commissioner’s Office;

- Nursing and Midwifery Council;

- Operation Encompass;

- Social Work England;

- Teaching Regulation Agency, Teacher Misconduct; and

- over 400 individual practitioners, including those working in health.

All consultations took place in the form of meetings.

We are committed to ongoing engagement with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the information sharing duty.