The board was established under section 157[1] of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, with effect from October 2008, with a range of advisory functions relating to information governance.
From January 2009, the NIGB also gained functions under section 251[2] of the NHS Act 2006 which had previously been held by the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG) until its abolition.
These functions were to advise the Secretary of State for Health on the use of powers to set aside the common law duty of confidentiality in England, where identifiable patient information is needed and where consent is not practicable.
These functions primarily related to applications to use identifiable patient information without consent, in specific circumstances within the bounds of section 251 of the NHS Act 2006.
These applications, which had been considered by PIAG before the NIGB, passed on to the Health Research Authority's Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) on 1 April 2013.