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Secretary of State Directions

Section 254 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act) enables the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to direct NHS England on matters concerning the provision of health services or adult social care in England.

1 February 2023 update - The statutory functions of NHS Digital transferred to NHS England under the Health and Social Care Information Centre (Transfer of Functions, Abolition and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2023 (Transfer Regulations) with effect from 1 February 2023 (Transfer Date).

Under the Transfer Regulations, all directions by either the Secretary of State or NHS England to NHS Digital are now treated as directions made by the Secretary of State to NHS England except for system delivery directions issued by NHS England to NHS Digital, which come to an end. NHS England Directions to NHS Digital up to and including the 31 January 2023 are available.

Where NHS Digital was required to or previously accepted a request under section 255 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act) to establish and operate an information system, that request is regarded under the Transfer Regulations as a request made to and accepted by NHS England.

From the Transfer Date, a number of directions made under section 254 of the 2012 Act have been varied in relation to their publication provisions to ensure that publication of information by NHS England may continue (where appropriate) where directions previously imposed a restriction on publication on NHS Digital. These directions are amended by the NHS England De-Identified Data Analytics and Publication Directions 2023.

All directions made after the Transfer Date will continue to be published here.