Clause 48 - Special protection for personal records
Health Bill
6:15 pm
Jane Kennedy (Minister of State (Quality and Patient Safety), Department of Health; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
It is useful to have the opportunity to clarify things. This is so important that it bears repetition—just the once, hon. Members will be pleased to learn. There may be circumstances in which information from personal records obtained under these powers will enable a person to be identified either from that piece of information or if it is combined with other information. In such cases, I acknowledge that special care has to be taken.
Where the information is disclosed for the purposes of any court or disciplinary proceedings, the person disclosing it must take steps to ensure that unless there is a court order the information is not disclosed to any member of the public. However, a party to legal proceedings may apply to the court for the information to be used as evidence in a case. Such a party would have to apply to the court and it would be a decision for the court. The court may agree to this, but to safeguard the identity of the individual, because there is the risk of identification, it may require all or some of the proceedings of that court case to be held in private. I hope that that gives the hon. Gentleman a bit more clarity on the point.