Statistics and Registration Service Bill

I am likely to disappoint the noble Baroness by not accepting the amendments. After all, they would prevent the Secretary of State for Health, other public authorities or Welsh Ministers disclosing to the board any information from which the health condition, care or treatment provided to any person could be deduced, either on its own or when taken together with any other published information. The amendments could prevent the Secretary of State disclosing the information listed in the clause. That might occur if, for example, he was aware of other relevant information obtained by the board from other sources which might allow the health or condition of a person, or the care or treatment provided to that person, to be deduced. If the Secretary of State considered that he was prohibited from disclosing patient registration information altogether, the board would not be able to continue to produce population statistics. Although I understand why the noble Baroness and the noble Lord are concerned about the matter, given the impact that the amendments would have on outputs currently produced by the Office for National Statistics, we feel that the emphasis should instead be on having appropriate safeguards in handling the data, as we discussed on previous amendments. We maintain that the Bill contains safeguards in Clause 36 which include a confidentiality obligation for personal information held by the board or anyone else who has received such information directly or indirectly from the board. The board’s handling and disclosure of the personal information received under the clauses will also be governed by the protections afforded by the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Data Protection Act 1998. Clauses 40 and 41 contain additional safeguards in that disclosure by the board of any information received under these clauses, either for the purpose of enabling or assisting the board to exercise any of its functions or to an approved researcher, can be made only with the express consent of the Secretary of State for Health. In addition, it is likely that the data sharing envisaged by Clauses 40 and 41 will be underpinned by a memorandum of understanding or a service level agreement between the board and the Secretary of State for Health. The memorandum of understanding or service level agreement would certainly cover issues such as confidentiality and disclosure. Any changes to the memorandum of understanding or service level agreement would, by its very nature, need the agreement of the Secretary of State for Health, as does the initial disclosure envisaged by Clauses 40 and 41. We maintain that we have a lock on this position, and that we have appropriate safeguards in this very important area. I fully respect the anxieties that have been expressed about issues of confidentiality, because they are very important. Equally, however, it is obvious that certain information is absolutely essential for gathering, deciphering and presenting statistics. There must be safeguards to protect the individual, but, as I said, we believe that we have the necessary safeguards. I hope that the noble Earl, Lord Northesk, will accept that.