Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment on the rights and freedoms of the people whose health data is collected by the NHS; and whether any such data is protected against access by intelligence services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Under the General Data Protection Regulations 2016, data controllers are under a legal obligation to complete Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) particularly where it involves high risk processing. All National Health Service organisations processing patient data as data controllers are therefore required to complete DPIAs and where necessary, to consult with key stakeholders to ensure risks to privacy are identified and mitigated as far as possible. It would be inappropriate for the Government to undertake a DPIA in relation to the health data held by those organisations. It is the responsibility of each of these organisations to protect the confidentiality of patients and to ensure that there is a legal basis for the disclosure of any personal information.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to competitively tender for future technology products and services that were commissioned during the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department and its agencies have always secured digital and technology products and services in accordance with the requirements of United Kingdom procurement laws and will continue to do so; in responding quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has made direct awards where permitted under regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the NHS COVID-19 Data Store published on 5 June covers the release of patient identifiable information to local public health teams; and if so, which (1) legal, or (2) policy, provisions prevent local directors of public health from receiving such information.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The COVID-19 Data Store does not hold patient identifiable data, as all data is de-identified (pseudonymised) in line with Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance and best practice, prior to being imported to the database. Therefore, the release of patient identifiable information to local public health teams, via the COVID-19 Data Store, is not possible.
NHS England is the data controller for all data held within the COVID-19 data store and ensures (via contractual arrangements) that data storage and processes are fully compliant with legislation and best practice.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (1) has been, or (2) will be, involved in the NHS Test and Trace programme.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has been and continues to be involved with the NHS Test and Trace Programme. IPA provided assurance at the outset and has since supported independent peer reviews. IPA will continue to be involved by providing advice and support.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether notices issued under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 in March cover the release of patient identifiable information to local public health teams; and if so, which (1) legal, or (2) policy, provisions prevent local directors of public health from receiving such information.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is of vital importance that the health and care sector is able to access the data it needs to respond to COVID-19. A Control of Patient Information Notice was issued to require a range of organisations to share and process data for COVID-19 purposes. This should include sharing data with public health teams responding to COVID-19.
The Notice only applies to data processed for COVID-19 purposes and organisations must also meet other regulatory and legal requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation.
Public Health England is making available to all local authorities information on positive tests
for COVID-19. Public Health England also routinely shares personal data with local authorities to manage and control local clusters and outbreaks of certain infectious diseases.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the Data Protection Impact Assessment of Palantir’s role in combining NHS data had no analysis of data analytics as contained in their G-Cloud 11 call-Off contract (version 4); and whether they intend to publish an additional report to cover this.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Whilst we have made no specific assessment, the Government is committed to ensure that the United Kingdom continues to be one of the best places in the world for research and innovation and is at the forefront of health and social care research internationally and specifically, global research on pandemics.
The UK has pledged £388 million in aid funding for research into vaccines, tests and treatments which is part of a larger £744 million existing commitment to help end the pandemic and support the global economy. This also includes £250 million for global Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop vaccines against coronaviruses. The UK will also provide £330 million a year for the next five years to the Global Vaccine Alliance, readying it to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine in developing countries.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish a Data Protection Impact Assessment of Faculty AI’s work on data dashboards and modelling for NHSX.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Data Protection Impact Assessment is already published online by NHS England.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to increase (1) access to data controlled by the NHS, and (2) associated opportunities to innovate, for UK start-ups and SMEs (a) during, and (b) after, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To simplify access to data controlled by the National Health Service and encourage innovation partnerships, the Government is developing a policy framework underpinned by five guiding principles. This will offer support and guidance to NHS organisations that are considering entering into data access agreements with researchers and commercial partners.
The framework is expected to be published later this year and is being developed in consultation with patient representative groups, health and data experts, NHS bodies and industry. To support the NHS in embedding the framework in practice, the Government has set up a National Centre of Expertise in NHSX to provide commercial and legal expertise to NHS organisations on agreeing fair terms when negotiating partnerships.
The Government has also committed funding for the Digital Innovation Hubs Programme which aims to enable a United Kingdom-wide life sciences environment that provides responsible and safe access to rich, research-ready health data, technology and science, research and innovation services.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Summary of Impacts: Coronavirus Bill, published on 19 March, when they will publish the equalities assessment undertaken as part of the Public Sector Equalities Duty.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The duty to have regard to the impact on equalities is an ongoing one.
The Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability is reflected in the duties set out in the Coronavirus Act 2020 to publish a status report every two months; carry out a review every six months with a debate and vote in the House of Commons; and publish a status report for debate in both Houses after one year.
We are considering how best to update Parliament on the equalities impact of the legislation as part of this broader commitment.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to mandate the rollout by Openreach of fibre-to-the-premises broadband to urban areas; and what is their timeframe for this rollout.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Government's ambition is for nationwide coverage of gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible. Gigabit capable broadband can be delivered by fibre to the premise broadband, as well as other technologies, such as upgraded cable networks.
We believe the best way to deliver nationwide coverage is to promote network competition and commercial investment by BT Openreach and other operators wherever possible, and to intervene with public subsidy where necessary. To deliver this, we are taking action to reduce barriers to commercial deployment including, for example, through the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold) Property Bill, which will make it easier to connect tenanted properties with an unresponsive landlord. At Budget, we also committed to invest £5 billion to deliver gigabit capable deployment to the hardest to reach areas of the country.
The Government does not have formal powers to mandate the rollout of gigabit capable broadband by a private sector company like BT. However, BT recently announced their ambition to deliver gigabit connectivity to 20 million premises during the 2020s.