Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to make medical records available to commercial third parties; and what steps he is taking to ensure that medical records are not disclosed to third parties without the informed consent of patients.

The National Health Service does not allow data to be used solely for commercial purposes. All applications for access to this data must have a health or care benefit by organisations who have a legitimate need and a legal basis to use the data. NHS Digital publishes the details of the data it allows access to on a data release register so it can be held to account.

The NHS carries out independent audits to verify organisations are using this data for the stated purposes, in accordance with the terms and conditions of their data sharing agreements.