GPDPR Information Governance Expert Liaison Group

The Information Governance Expert Liaison Group was established in Autumn 2021. It followed a letter that ministers wrote to all GPs in England in July 2021 describing changes being made to the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) Programme.

The letter confirmed that data collection would only begin when the following criteria are met:

• the ability to delete data if patients choose to opt-out of sharing their GP data with NHS Digital, even if this is after their data has been uploaded
• the backlog of opt-outs has been fully cleared
• a Trusted Research Environment has been developed and implemented in NHS Digital
• patients have been made more aware of the scheme through a campaign of engagement and communication

These commitments were made to address a number of issues (including the lack of sufficient transparency) that contributed to the delay of the original GPDPR collection in the summer of 2021.

The group was established to offer advice to the programme in the delivery of these criteria from an information governance (IG) perspective.

The main purpose of the group is to: 

1. To allow the GPDPR programme to consider key data protection matters such as transparency, pseudonymisation and reidentification arrangements, data sharing/access, opt-outs (National Data Opt-out and Type 1) and associated documentation, including transparency notices, patient information material and communications and the NHS Digital and Template GP Data Protection Impact Assessments with key IG stakeholders.
2. To provide key IG stakeholders with the opportunity to review and discuss issues and provide advice and feedback to NHS Digital on the IG elements of the GPDPR programme.
3. Promote improved engagement and communication with key IG stakeholders, service users and the public.

The group is attended by representatives from the following organisations:

• NHS Digital
• NHS England
• Department for Health and Social Care
• Independent Group Advising on Release of Data (IGARD)
• Information Commissioner’s Office
• Office of the National Data Guardian (NDG)
• Confidentiality Advisory Group
   

The terms of reference will be published as part of the wider description of the GPDPR programme governance arrangements.

Action Notes will also be published.

Provided by NHS Digital: set up meetings, develop and distribute agenda and papers, record and distribute minutes (within 3 working days of each meeting).

Papers and documents will be shared through a dedicated MS Teams Site.

The group will meet at least monthly via MS Teams. These terms of reference (including membership) were agreed in the first meeting and will be review regularly and will be updated as required.

Ad-hoc meetings may be scheduled as necessary to address urgent issues.

The group will continue to meet until the GPDPR collection has been fully implemented.

The Information Governance Expert Liaison Group will be conducted in parallel to a number of other stakeholder groups covering specific elements of programme design and delivery.

Find out more about our GPDPR assurance groups.