Recommendation 17

HM Government · verbatim extract Not Addressed

DHSC recognises that cross-organisational working is more important than ever given the nature and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, various channels of data access and sharing have been strengthened or established, and both internal and public-facing central dashboards have been set up to show joined-up, UK-wide data related to a number of Covid-19 related indicators, ensuring analysts from within and outside government have access to the same key metrics. In addition, attendance at both new and existing cross-government working groups and calls has facilitated information-sharing and collaboration. The NHS Test and Trace operation, launched in England on the 28 May 2020, was put together at pace and scale to support the urgent response needed to test the public. All councils in England have the ability to access testing data, right down to individual and postcode level. PHE share this is as soon as it has been quality assured and data dashboards have been shared with local authorities since 11 June 2020. Data has been enhanced and expanded over time as the operation has matured. As JBC has become established, its data sharing functionality has increased substantially, in particular across government with PHE, the CO, ONS and the NHS, and with local partners and the devolved administrations. To deliver this the JBC has invested significant resource to ensure all regulatory requirements and ethical considerations have been covered in establishing and designing processes and agreements for onward data sharing. It now has a wide range of Data Sharing Agreements, Memorandums of Understanding and Data Protection Impact Assessments in place to facilitate the sharing of data externally in a timely fashion. Integration of data flows across the health and social care sectors, including public health bodies at the national and local levels The response to Covid-19 created a large volume of new data feeds into central organisations, particularly NHS England. Those processes were supported by short term changes in regulations, including use of the Control of Patient Information regulations to enable data sharing and use. This has given the system the confidence needed to effectively share data relating to Covid-19. It has also helped to ensure data is passed effectively across the health and care system to support the Covid-19 response and has been important in the development of data platforms and tools to support data analysis, sharing and re-use. The Health Data Research Innovation Gateway provides a common entry point to discover and enquire about access to UK health datasets for research and innovation. UK Health Data Research Alliance, which include NHS, research and charitable organisations. Experts in public health and epidemiology in the JBC are working in close partnership with PHE to develop a detailed picture of Covid-19 at a national, regional and local level, and to understand the risk factors associated with transmission. This analysis complements the wealth of surveillance and testing data already being provided to decision makers at a local and national level. The JBC is also piloting an initiative, known as Local Data Spaces, that is aimed at giving local authorities across England secure access to key national Covid-19 datasets on the ONS Secure Research Service (SRS), and is working with partners to consider how that could scale in the future. JBC has also facilitated the flow of NHS Test and Trace, PHE and NHS data into ONS’ SRS for use by accredited academics, integrating data flows for scientific use. The JBC’s use of data within the ONS SRS, including in collaboration with members of the wider scientific research community, is overseen by the UK Statistics Authority's Research Accreditation Panel and the National Statistician's Data Ethics Advisory Committee. Integration of data flows across the health and social care systems of the four UK nations There is close working with Devolved Administrations across a number of areas which has ensured UK alignment on a number of metrics, as reflected in the UK-wide coronavirus GOV.UK dashboard.21 The Health Data Research Innovation Gateway is revolutionising discovery of and access to data through streamlined and harmonised access management for the first time, across the United Kingdom. Through its work with the Devolved Administrations, the JBC is building a true four nations organisation, formally embodied in a Political Agreement and an Agency Agreement, both of which have been endorsed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and his counterparts across the UK. The implementation of these agreements at a working level is well underway with the foundations laid for the Devolved Administrations to be ingrained in the fabric of the JBC, through participation in the prioritisation of analytical work, increased collaboration on the discharge of that work, and the formal embedding of staff from the Devolved Administrations in the