Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following publication of the Information Commissioner's Office guidance on anonymisation in March, what assessment they have made of NHS England’s decision not to apply the NHS National Data Opt Out to pseudonymisation of medical records for secondary use purposes that do not qualify as necessary processing.

The Information Commissioner’s Office detailed guidance on anonymisation and pseudonymisation, which is a helpful and welcome resource. NHS England continues to apply the National Data Opt Out option, in line with the National Data Opt Out Policy guidance, which the Department keeps under review.

The Department and NHS England are currently conducting large-scale public engagement on health data in the National Health Service to help inform future policy on opt-out options.