Guidance

Legislative Reform (Disclosure of Adult Social Care Data) Order 2025 (HTML)

Published 21 May 2025

Draft Order laid before Parliament under section 14(1) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, for approval by resolution of each House of Parliament.

DRAFT STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS

2025 No.

REGULATORY REFORM

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Legislative Reform (Disclosure of Adult Social Care Data) Order 2025

Made - - - -

Coming into force

The Minister for the Cabinet Office makes this Order in exercise of the power conferred by section 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006^{[footnote 1]} (“the Act”).

For the purposes of section 3(1) of the Act, the Minister for the Cabinet Office considers, where relevant, that the conditions in section 3(2) are satisfied.

The Minister for the Cabinet Office has consulted in accordance with section 13(1) of the Act^{[footnote 2]}.

The Minister for the Cabinet Office has laid a draft Order and an explanatory document before Parliament in accordance with section 14 of the Act.

Pursuant to section 15 of the Act, the affirmative resolution procedure (within the meaning of section 17 of the Act) applies in relation to the making of this Order.

In accordance with section 17(2) of the Act, the draft has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament after the expiry of the 40-day period referred to in that provision^{[footnote 3]}.

Citation, commencement and extent

1. —(1) This Order may be cited as the Legislative Reform (Disclosure of Adult Social Care Data) Order 2025 and comes into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(2) This Order extends to England and Wales.

Amendment of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014

2. —(1) Paragraph 4 of Schedule 9 to the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (disclosure of results of data matching etc)^{[footnote 4]} is amended as follows.

(2) In sub-paragraph (6)(a)—

(a) the words after “relates to” become sub-paragraph (i), and

(b) at the end of that sub-paragraph insert “, or

(ii) in relation to patient data which are held for the purposes of local authority social care provided to individuals aged 18 or over, a local authority;”.

(3) In sub-paragraph (12)^{[footnote 5]}—

(a) in the opening words, after “sub-paragraph (6)” insert “and this sub-paragraph”, and

(b) at the appropriate places insert—

““local authority” has the meaning given by section 275(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006^{[footnote 6]};”;

““local authority social care” means—

(a) social care provided or arranged for by a local authority; or

(b) social care all or part of the cost of which is paid for with funds provided by a local authority;”;

““social care” has the meaning given by section 251(12A) of the National Health Service Act 2006^{[footnote 7]}.”.

Amendment of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004

3. —(1) Section 64D of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 (disclosure of results of data matching etc)^{[footnote 8]} is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (5)(a)—

(a) the words after “relates to” become sub-paragraph (i), and

(b) at the end of that sub-paragraph insert “, or

(ii) in relation to patient data which are held for the purposes of local authority social care provided to individuals aged 18 or over, a local authority,”.

(3) In subsection (6)^{[footnote 9]}—

(a) in the opening words, after “subsection (5)” insert “and this subsection”,

(b) before paragraph (a) insert—

“(za) “local authority” has the meaning given by section 275(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006,

(zb)  “local authority social care” means—

(i) social care provided or arranged for by a local authority, or

(ii) social care all or part of the cost of which is paid for with funds provided by a local authority,”, and

(c) after paragraph (b) insert—

“(c) “social care” has the meaning given by section 251(12A) of the National Health Service Act 2006.”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Schedule 9 to the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (c. 2) includes provision for the Secretary of State or the Minister for the Cabinet Office to carry out data matching exercises or to arrange for them to be done on his or her behalf. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 9 sets out the circumstances in which information (obtained for a data matching exercise and the result of any such exercise) may be disclosed by or on behalf of a Minister. The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 applies to relevant authorities in England.

Section 64 of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 (c. 23) includes provision for the Auditor General for Wales to conduct data matching exercises. The data matching functions of the Auditor General for Wales apply in or with respect to Wales. Section 64D sets out the circumstances in which information (obtained for a data matching exercise and the result of any such exercise) may be disclosed by or on behalf of the Auditor General for Wales.

This Order amends paragraph 4 of Schedule 9 to the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and section 64D of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004 so that matched adult social care data can be shared with local authorities in England and Wales.

The Order is made under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c. 51) and removes burdens and administrative inconveniences on local authorities. The Order would reduce financial burdens on local authorities by assisting the recovery of money lost through fraud and error. The Order also eliminates an administrative inconvenience on local authorities.

A full impact assessment has been prepared in relation to this Order. A copy is available at http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legislative-reform-disclosure-of-adult-social-care-data-order-2025. A hard copy can be obtained by writing to Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2AS.

1. 2006 c. 51; section 1 was amended by section 16(2) and paragraph 6(2) of Schedule 2 to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (c. 28) and paragraph 144 of Schedule 1 to S.I. 2007/1388. ↩

2. Section 13(1) was amended by section 4(4) of the Wales Act 2014 (c. 29) and paragraph 147 of Schedule 1 to S.I. 2007/1388. ↩

3. “40-day period” is defined by section 16(7) of the Act. ↩

4. 2014 c. 2. ↩

5. Paragraph 4(12) was amended by paragraph 23 of Schedule 1 to the Health and Care Act 2022 (c. 31). That amendment is not relevant to this Order. ↩

6. 2006 c. 41. ↩

7. Section 251(12A) was inserted by paragraph 7(3) of Schedule 4 to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 (c. 1). ↩

8. 2004 c. 23; section 64D was inserted by paragraph 4 of Schedule 7 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 (c. 27). ↩

9. Subsection (6) was amended by paragraph 65 of Schedule 4 to the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2013 (anaw 3) and paragraph 63(6) of Schedule 12 to the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (c. 2). ↩