I am grateful to the noble Baronesses for their contributions this afternoon.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, and I were on the Public Services Committee during Covid, and one thing we were very conscious about was data collection. That was highlighted on that committee, so I am very aware of the points that were raised in that respect.
On the purpose of data collection and support, as I am sure the noble Baroness appreciates, the availability of good quality and timely data from ICS providers is essential to improve the service for all users, support efficient commissioning and systems assurance and manage national, regional and local risks. The data is needed to continue to support Covid recovery, monitor vaccination levels, understand capacity and risk in the care system more generally, understand the impact of winter pressures, determine when and how to target support to providers and, ultimately, help facilitate the care of individuals across the care system long term.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, asked about transparency. Our programme of work to improve data in adult social care includes updating the adult social care outcomes framework to ensure that it better captures the outcomes that matter most to people and reflects the Care Act 2014 and reform. It is used locally and nationally to set priorities for care and support, measure progress and strengthen transparency and accountability. We are developing an ISC data framework, which will start to set out what data gaps we have, our approach to addressing them, the purpose of those collections and the standards to which they are collected.
The noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, asked about guarantees for future Secretaries of State. I cannot stand here and speak for what a future Secretary of State will do but, for now, I can assure her that the data will be subject to the UK GDPR.
The noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler, asked about the burden on small businesses. We hope to see full compliance so that financial penalties are not required. Our priority is to support providers to share their data wherever possible. The data required will be proportionate and we do not anticipate it being onerous. Financial penalties will normally be a last resort, where a provider continues
to be or is persistently in breach of its data obligations despite multiple offers of support from our delivery partners.
The noble Baroness also wanted some assurance on data collection. As I said, our aim is to work closely with stakeholders to identify and agree key data needs, as well as look at opportunities to streamline current data collections from ASC providers, so that data can be captured once and shared safely with all those who need it.
Another point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler, was on fines. As I said, we hope to see full compliance so that financial penalties are not required. Our priority is to support providers to share their data wherever possible. The data required will be proportionate and we do not anticipate it being too onerous, as I said earlier.
I think that covers most of the points that were raised.