GP engagement steering group terms of reference

The purpose of the steering group is to provide independent oversight, advice and constructive challenge to support the effective delivery of public and staff engagement relating to data and digital transformation across health and social care. 

The steering group exists to help ensure that engagement activity is robust, proportionate and aligned with strategic priorities, and that insights from both public and staff perspectives are effectively used to inform policy and programme development over the long term.

Delivering effective and trusted data and digital transformation depends on understanding and responding to the views, experiences and expectations of both the public and health and care professionals. 

Building on the programme of national public engagement on data, we have set out to meaningfully involve the public and staff in shaping data, digital and technology policies and programmes, ensuring that views and insights gained from engagement are reflected in decision making and future work. When delivered well, engagement  supports the development of novel programmes such as the NHS App, the Federated Data Platform (FDP) and the Health Data Research Service (HDRS), informed by prior public engagement and significant staff engagement activity. 

In this context, we established the steering group to provide external and independent advice to support this ambition, drawing on a range of perspectives and expertise from across and beyond the health and care system. The steering group oversees a programme of engagement that includes both public and staff focused work. It will operate across various engagement cohorts, drawing on a core membership to ensure we involve the right voices, expertise, and stakeholders when engaging the public and staff groups such as general practice.

Members will not be required to support every cohort. We will draw from the core membership as we commence each cohort.

The steering group will provide oversight and advice across the design, delivery and evaluation of public and staff engagement activity relating to data, digital and technology work.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• cross cutting public and staff engagement activity on foundational or system wide data and digital issues
• engagement activity linked to major programmes or legislative change
• engagement delivered through a range of mechanisms, including deliberative engagement, research, consultation and other participatory approaches

The group does not have delivery or decision-making responsibilities, but provides advice to help strengthen quality, consistency and impact.

The objectives of the steering group are to support engagement activity that:

• strengthens public and professional confidence in the use of data and digital technologies, in line with the ambitions of the NHS 10 Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Vision
• supports effective policy and programme development through the generation and use of robust, high-quality insights and recommendations
• promotes consistent, proportionate and best practice approaches to engagement across data and digital work during 2026 to 2030

The steering group will:

• provide advice and constructive challenge on engagement approaches and emerging plans 
• offer insight on whether engagement activity feels appropriate, accessible and credible from both public and staff perspectives 
• highlight risks, gaps or unintended consequences and suggest mitigations 
• support learning across engagement activity by reflecting on what is working well and where improvements could be made 
• act as a sounding board rather than a formal assurance or sign off body

Chair: Dr Nicola Byrne, National Data Guardian.

Members: 

National Data Guardian Office 

NHS Alliance

Understanding Patient Data 

Practice Managers Association 

British Medical Association  

Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry 

Association of British HealthTech Industries 

National Voices 

Care England 

Local Government Association

Med Confidential 

Public and Patient Voice Partners

Membership is expected to reflect a mix of expertise and perspectives relevant to public engagement, staff engagement, data and digital transformation, and the wider health and care system.

Members are expected to:

• act as a critical friend to the programme, offering constructive challenge and independent advice throughout
• engage with papers and materials circulated in advance of meetings and contribute actively to discussions
• bring a range of perspectives, expertise and experience relevant to data, digital, engagement or system delivery
• ensure contributions are balanced, constructive and focused on improving outcomes and impact
• contribute to a secure, open, honest and collaborative environment
• bring relevant insights or intelligence from their own organisations or networks, where appropriate
• support dissemination and awareness of engagement activity and findings through their own networks, once outputs are published

The steering group will provide advice and assurance across areas, including:

• engagement design and methodology
• recruitment and inclusivity approaches
• framing of issues, questions and materials
• review of emerging findings and final outputs
• approach to independent evaluation and learning
• alignment with wider strategic priorities and delivery timelines
• identification and escalation of significant risks or concerns, where appropriate

The group may be asked to provide advice at key decision points throughout the lifecycle of engagement activity.

The steering group will:

• receive regular updates on engagement activity, progress and emerging findings
• provide advice and recommendations to the sponsoring team(s)
• receive summary outputs and evaluation findings from completed engagement
• report into the Health Data Patient Panel (HPDP), and the Data Strategy Advisory Panel (DSAP) to ensure that the outputs of findings from engagement inform external advice in the development of new policy.

We will produce a summary record of meetings. Where appropriate, high-level outputs or summaries may be published in line with transparency commitments.

The frequency of steering group meetings will vary depending on the stage and nature of the engagement activity.

For each engagement cohort, the steering group would typically be expected to meet up to 4 times, for example, during key points in the design, delivery and close of the engagement. Meetings may be more frequent during design or delivery phases and less frequent during periods of inactivity.

In addition to formal meetings, members will be expected to review papers, materials and outputs between meetings, including engagement plans, interim findings and final reports, to provide timely advice and constructive challenge.

Members may be exposed to sensitive or pre decisional information. All discussions and papers should be treated as confidential unless otherwise stated.

Information should be handled in line with relevant organisational information governance and data protection requirements.

Members will be asked to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Where relevant, the Chair may agree appropriate management arrangements.

We will review the effectiveness of the steering group periodically to ensure it continues to provide useful insight and support. This may include reviewing membership, remit or ways of working.

These terms of reference apply from 21 April 2026. We will review them at least annually, or sooner if required, to reflect changes in strategic priorities or delivery approach.

This steering group is the main forum for advising on the public deliberation programme.

The programme also engages with the following governance and advisory forums, with clear links between them where issues relate to data policy:

Health Data Patient Panel (HDPP) is a group consisting of patient and professional representatives, with an interest in patient data. It provides working level advice on trust and transparency on data policy and programmes. The project team engages HDPP separately and will be clear where their input has shaped thinking.

Data Strategy Advisory Panel (DSAP) is an independent stakeholder advisory group providing advice, challenge and co-design on data policy. DSAP has provided the programme with a more strategic, external perspective with the benefit of knowledge of the topic areas and history of the data space. The creation of this specific steering group is a result of advice from DSAP.