Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what advice or guidance his Department has provided on public interest data sharing throughout the public sector in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

We have been working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to make it clear that data protection and electronic communications legislation does not stop the Government, the NHS or any other health professionals from sending public health messages to people, nor stop them using the latest technology to facilitate safe and speedy consultations and diagnoses. Guidance published by the ICO also recognises that public bodies may require additional collection and sharing of personal data to protect against serious threats to public health. The full guidance can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/data-protection-and-coronavirus/.