Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, in light of the guidance on the NHS website under "Using linked profiles to access services for someone else", they are of the opinion that an 11-year-old child is able in all instances to deny their parents access to their medical records; and, if not, (1) what tests they expect a GP to apply in determining what information to withhold from parents, (2) whether this includes a test of Gillick competence, and (3) why these tests are not specified in the above notice so as to ensure that the process is transparent.

The guidance states that when a child is aged between 11 and 16, they may be able to deny their parents proxy access to their online if the GP surgery agrees that is appropriate, and it is not intended that in all instances that would be appropriate. A GP surgery should have processes in place for determining whether a child aged between 11 and 16 years is competent to make this decision.

Specific tests are not described in the above guidance as each case must be considered individually with the interests of the child being paramount. There are no set questions to assess Gillick competency, but the professional bodies have guidance on this and the Frazer Guidelines.