Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the operation of data protection legislation in respect of Clinical Commissioning Groups asking to see patients' personal health data when reviewing the use of liothyronine for the purposes of cost cutting.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are legally responsible, as data controllers in their own right, to abide by data protection legislation when processing any data. The Department does not assess their operation of data protection legislation.

CCGs are the responsible commissioner for the prescription of liothyronine and it is for CCGs to have regard to guidance set out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England and NHS Improvement.