National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care

[3] Dr Nicola Byrne was appointed to the role in March 2021 by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

As a non-regulatory body, the National Data Guardian does not issue or enforce sanctions; it works with existing regulators such as the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Care Quality Commission where this is required.

A Private Members' Bill to place the National Data Guardian role on a statutory footing was introduced to Parliament in 2017.

The Health and Social Care (National Data Guardian) Bill 2017-19 was sponsored by Member of Parliament Peter Bone.

It made 20 recommendations, including the introduction of 10 national data security standards for health and care and a new tool for measuring performance against them.