Health Bill

Clause 50 provides special protection for information obtained from personal records and from which the identity of the individual that they are about can be ascertained. Subsection (3) places an obligation on the person disclosing personal records for the purposes of civil, criminal and disciplinary proceedings to take the necessary steps to prevent the information being inappropriately disclosed. It is intended that this might include: placing conditions on the storage of the records; access to them, including recording such access; and copying them and the treatment of such copies—for example, the arrangements that apply to the original document should apply to any copies. Amendment No. 98 tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, seeks to tighten up the obligation in subsection (3) by stating that personal information should not be disclosed to any,"““person to whom it is not necessary to disclose the information””," rather than to just ““any member of the public”” as the current drafting states. I am grateful to the noble Earl for bringing forward this amendment, which has certainly given us pause for thought. For example, the clause as drafted might not include a court official, who is arguably not a member of the public while in that capacity, yet is still unlikely to need to hear details of any personal records. I am therefore delighted to accept this amendment in principle, but will take the time between now and Report to ensure that we get the drafting of any amendment absolutely right to ensure that such personal information is not disclosed to anyone who does not need to hear it.