New Data Bill becomes law

The government is promising that the new Data (Use and Access) Act will cut bureaucracy across public services.

It said the new data regime is set to pump £10 billion into the British economy over the next decade.

Measures in the Act aim to ensure healthcare information – like a patient’s pre-existing conditions, appointments and tests – can be accessed in real time across all NHS trusts, GP surgeries and ambulance services, no matter what IT system they are using. The government said that enabling data sharing across platforms will save NHS staff 140,000 hours a year in admin and speed up diagnoses and treatments for patients.

The Act boosts the development of technology such as price comparison apps that can provide personalised experiences to people so they can “save money and time with bills and food shops.”

The new laws will also broaden the access that third parties, like energy suppliers, have to consumer data. For example, consumers will be able to share data on their energy usage which will help create more accurate price comparisons, informing what utility provider best suits their needs.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “For too long, previous governments have been sitting on a goldmine of data, wasting a powerful resource which can be used to help families juggle food costs, slash tedious life admin, and make our NHS and police work smarter.”

Better use of data

The government said the Act will deliver on legislation to help bereaved parents get answers when social media activity is linked to the death of their child. The new laws will establish a data preservation process that will require Ofcom, when notified by a coroner, to issue a data preservation notice to social media companies supporting their investigations into the death.

The data regime will also create a National Underground Asset Register, a map of the country’s underground pipes and cables, which will allow construction workers to instantly see their exact location – information which currently takes six days to access. Slashing the average data-sharing process to six seconds, workers in the field will have access to a view of buried assets, helping them make more informed decisions on how to carry out works safely and efficiently.

And by legislating on digital verification services and introducing trusted digital verification tools, the government hopes that people will be able to prove their identity online more easily. Companies who provide tools for verifying identities can get certified against the government’s trust framework of standards and receive a ‘trust mark’ to use as a result.