Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to send care.data communications simultaneously to patients in the three remaining pathfinder clinical commissioning groups; and on what date his Department plans to start contacting those patients in those areas.

Care.data communications will not be issued until Dame Fiona Caldicott the National Data Guardian, has advised the Secretary of State that she is satisfied with the safeguards NHS England has put in place.

The decision to send patient communications will be made with each pathfinder area based on their readiness to proceed. No timeframes are being imposed by the programme.