Health and Social Care Data Board minutes: February 2025

Attendees and apologies

Chair

• Carol Sinclair (CS)

Board members

• Colin Birchenall (CB)
• Jonathan Cameron (JC)
• ED
• TG
• MG
• Roger Halliday (RH) 
• Karen Hedge (KH)
• CK
• MM
• Eilidh McLaughlin (EM)
• Nicola Steadman (NS)
• Heather thompson (HT)
• JT
• Angie Wood (AWo)

Programme team

• RA
• SC
• RG
• GW

In Attendance

• CBe
• CB
• CC
• MAF
• IH
• AH
• LT
• MW

Apologies

• JD
• Scott Heald (SH)
• LH
• AK
• MMu
• AW
• DW

Items and actions

Welcome, Introductions and Apologies. 

CS welcomed everyone to the fourteenth meeting of the Health and Social Care Data Board.  

CS welcomed CB - Head of Service - Digital Strategy & Product Development – Public Health Scotland (Deputising for Scott Heald), MAF – Head of Data Integration, Governance and Strategy Digital & Security – NHS National Services Scotland (Deputising for AK) and LT - Head of Information Management – NHS Lanarkshire (Deputising for DW) , CC – Digital Services and Innovation Policy Manager - Scottish Government, IH – Policy Team Leader- AI Innovation and Development – Scottish Government and MW – Chief Design Officer – COSLA Digital Office, who presented agenda item three and CB – Strategic Data Policy Advisor – Scottish Government, who presented agenda item five.  

Apologies were noted from JD, Scott Heald, LH, AK, MMu, AW and DW. 

Minutes, Action Log and Policy update 

The Board noted: 

• Minutes from the meeting held on 03 December 2024 are published on our website 

• all presentations from the previous meeting have been issued to board members. 

Outstanding actions: 

• DHC DB 078 - RA to scope out other standards used within Scotland particularly around schools and justice, to explore how IT providers have achieved data standards across Local Government in these areas.  

• DHC DB 088 –  

  • SH and JC are continuing their engagement with stakeholders around the programme and will bring this item back to Data Board in due course – (early 2025).  
  • SH and JC to reach out to the Racialised Health and Inequalities Steering Group to consider what resources they may be able to offer to help successfully conclude this work.  

• DHC DB 093 – SH to share the process for prioritising data requests received as part of the changes to Social Care Data Workstream.  

• DHC DB 094 – SH to follow up with JD on sharing good practice to improve efficiency and minimise unmet needs; and provide the Board members a short glossary on acronyms and definitions on data and standards.  

• DHC DB 107 – CB to share the outcome of the Local Government data survey on data capabilities with Board members. 

• DHC DB 110 – CS, SH, RA and JC to arrange a follow up to discuss taking forward action item DHC DB 088 

• DHC DB 112 – RA, CB, EP and GW to arrange follow up to discuss action item DHC DB 107 and will present back to Data Board in February 

• DHC DB 117 – LR and JJ (both from RDS) to arrange a follow up session with CB and TG to raise awareness and the value of the refreshed Safe Havens Charter with the NHSS IG Forum and Local Government 

All other action log items are complete. 

Policy Updates and Sub-Board flash reports were shared with Board members prior to the meeting. Any feedback should be provided directly to RG and RA. 

Policy Framework for use of Artificial Intelligence in Health and Social Care  

CS invited CC, IH and MW to provide an overview of the plan for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Framework. 

The overview covered: 

• the plan for developing a policy framework for the use of Artificial Intelligence in health and social care including defining the:   

• strategic direction  

• policy and regulations  

• AI readiness and adoption 

The Board was asked: 

• to provide advice and comments on the proposed strategic direction, priorities and milestones  

• to note the engagement to date and make recommendations for membership of an informal steering group  

• to note the proposals for the AI policy framework and agree to review in May  

• to note the proposals for the AI Readiness and Adoption track of work and agree to review in November to discuss priorities  

The Board discussed: 

• the importance of continuing to collaborate with stakeholders in health and social care i.e. Local Government, and draw upon existing strategies to align the vision and ambition of this framework with others, ensuring that it works for both health and social care 

• the need to ensure we have the right security in place around health and social care data and personal information to demonstrate we have the correct safeguarding in place 

• focusing on improving data quality 

• Information Governance and cybersecurity being key to creating the right conditions to realise the benefits of AI 

• narrowing the scope and refining the problem statement to ensure consideration is only being given to AI specific to health and social care 

• the possibility of commissioning scoping for this work as it is a very technical area and requires specific skills 

• the importance of considering resource requirements for this work  

• the role of an informal steering group. It was felt that a formal group would be required to oversee this work as opposed to falling under the remit of Data Board  

Next steps: 

IH to consider the feedback from the board and further develop the AI Framework to bring back to Data Board in May 2025. 

Data Strategy 2025 update  

CS invited GW to provide an overview of the Data Strategy Update for 2025. 

The overview covered: 

• an update on the progress made to date and priorities for 2025 

The Board was asked: 

• to discuss and note the update  

• to confirm you are content with the progress made in 2024 and are assured that the Data Strategy is progressing in a satisfactory manner  

• to agree and discuss priorities for 2025, highlighting any gaps  

• to provide advice on how best to monitor progress of year 2-4 deliverables  

The Board discussed: 

• it would be advantageous to have better visibility of behind schedule deliverables to help them determine if they are content with progress made 

• setting out criteria that determines when a deliverable is complete 

• providing stakeholders with a framework that sets out what they need to deliver on with deadlines to support monitoring of year 2-4 deliverables 

• the need to make better use of the Data Delivery Sub-Board for monitoring behind schedule deliverables 

• the need for continued comms on the status of deliverables and the importance of using case studies to demonstrate the benefits and impact of delivery  

• further clarity on deliverables that are feeding into specific projects, to better understand the actions required and overall delivery of the Data Strategy  

Next Steps:

GW to circulate the 2024-25 Data Strategy Delivery Plan to board members. 

GW to reach out to MG to discuss possible case studies that can be used in the Data Strategy Update for 2025. 

GW to provide a written response to members comments and questions raised.  

Unlocking the Value of Data (UVOD)  

CS invited CB to provide an update on Unlocking the Value of Data. 

The update covered: 

• the current plans for the Scottish Government’s “Unlocking the Value of Data” programme including:  

• developing a framework of guidance to aid decision-making by Scotland’s public sector data controllers when managing requests by the private sector for access to personal data, for public benefit  

• creating a secure pathway for commercial organisations to access public sector personal data, for ethical data use and innovation in the public interest  

• use cases that define outcomes that demonstrate public benefit from commercial use of personal data 

The Board was asked: 

• to discuss and note the progress made to date under the Unlocking the Value of Data programme and the proposed next steps for delivery of the programme’s objectives  

• to agree to the proposed governance arrangements for the UVOD programme  

The Board discussed: 

• the importance of comms to get buy-in from challenging stakeholders  

• the importance of linking in with NHS England to standardise processes across all Safe Havens  

• further consideration needs to be given to the governance for this work as this will cover more than health and social care. 

• Data Board agreed to oversee the initial two use cases.

National Care Service (NCS) Bill Update  

CS invited RA to provide an update on the NCS Bill. 

The updated covered: 

• the latest developments on the NCS bill including: 

• the bill will now be referred to as the Care Reform Scotland Act 

• the amendments to section 36 and 37 of the bills at stage 2 

• Section 36 will provide the legal gateway for information sharing across health and social care organisations 

• Section 37 will provide legal gateway for setting out information standards and who they apply to including IT suppliers. The provision will also allow for sanctions to be applied for non-compliance. 

• timescales associated with the Act have been accelerated and could receive Royal Assent as early as summer 2025. 

The Board was asked: 

• to acknowledge the update  

Risk Register 

CS invited GW to provide an overview of the plans for developing a risk register for Data Board. 

The overview covered: 

• the initial progress undertaken via an internal workshop with Data Board programme team to identify and assess risks as set out in the risk register  

The Board was asked: 

• to participate in a future workshop to identify risk appetite and controls to mitigate risks. 

• to provide any comments directly to Gemma Wilson 

Next Steps:  

GW will organise a workshop to further develop the risk register with Data Board members. 

Any Other Business:

RA provided an update on the progress of Race and Ethnicity Data. 

The update covered: 

• a commission has been issued to National Services Scotland to develop the technical solution for integrating race and ethnicity into the Community Health Index (CHI) system 

The board discussed: 

• the adoption of CHI in Local Government offers an opportunity to incorporate high quality social care and social work data into the digital front door 

• the Local Government social care management system records ethnicity data and protected characteristics data. NSS may wish to engage with Local Government during development of this work 

AH provided an update on the European Health Data Space Regulations. 

The update covered: 

• the European Union signed into law a new regulation called the European Health Data Space, which regulates citizen’s access to health data. It specifies in law what data they're expected to see through additional platforms, specifies control around that data and makes it clear that an individual can actually decide that they don't want certain data about them to be shared with various health professionals. 

• the European Union will also be identifying the preferred Data Standards and Technical standards that will enable the capture and sharing of this data 

Next Data Board meeting:  

Tuesday 27 May 2025, 13:00 – 16:00