Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 8 June 2021 (HL Deb, col 1319–20), what improvements they have made to the process for patients opting out of their health data being used for research and planning; and how each patient can see where data about them is used.

In July 2021, we committed that the General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme will not access patient data until the following criteria has been met:

- the ability to delete data if patients choose to opt-out of sharing their data with NHS Digital, even if this is after their data has been uploaded;

- the backlog of opt-outs has been fully cleared;

- a trusted research environment has been developed and implemented by NHS Digital; and

- patients have been made more aware of the scheme through a campaign of engagement and communication.

NHS Digital is redesigning the programme with input from stakeholders to take account of these commitments and professional, public and stakeholder feedback. Data collection will begin when the National Data Guardian, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association are satisfied with the proposed arrangements. As part of our data strategy, we will engage on how the opt-out system works in practice, with the aim of making the process simpler and more transparent.

Patients can view how data is used through NHS Digital’s data release register. This shows monthly information on who data has been shared with, which data has been shared and for what specific purpose.