|
| |
|
exercising functions in connection with the provision of such services or care |
| |
must, in providing those services or that care, have regard to the code. |
| |
| |
The Information Centre must maintain and publish a register containing |
| |
descriptions of the information which has been obtained by virtue of this |
| 5 |
| |
| |
(1) | The Information Centre— |
| |
(a) | may give advice or guidance to any person mentioned in subsection (2) |
| |
on any matter relating to the collection, analysis, publication or other |
| 10 |
dissemination of information, and |
| |
(b) | must, if requested to do so by the Secretary of State or the Board, give |
| |
advice or guidance on any such matter as may be specified in the |
| |
| |
(i) | the Secretary of State or (as the case may be) the Board; |
| 15 |
(ii) | such other persons as may be specified in the request. |
| |
| |
(a) | the Secretary of State, |
| |
| |
(c) | any person who makes, or is proposing to make, a request under |
| 20 |
| |
(d) | any health or social care body, and |
| |
(e) | any person (including a devolved authority) who collects, or is |
| |
proposing to collect, information which relates to the provision of |
| |
health care or adult social care. |
| 25 |
(3) | The Secretary of State must, at least once in any review period, exercise the |
| |
power under subsection (1)(b) by requesting the Information Centre to give the |
| |
Secretary of State advice about ways in which the burdens relating to the |
| |
collection of information imposed on health or social care bodies and other |
| |
persons may be minimised. |
| 30 |
(4) | For the purposes of subsection (3) a review period is— |
| |
(a) | the period of 3 years beginning with the day on which this section |
| |
| |
(b) | each subsequent period of 3 years. |
| |
(5) | A health or social care body to whom advice or guidance is given under this |
| 35 |
section must have regard to the advice or guidance in exercising functions in |
| |
connection with the provision of health services or of adult social care in |
| |
| |
(6) | A person, other than a public body, who provides health services, or adult |
| |
social care in England, pursuant to arrangements made with a public body |
| 40 |
exercising functions in connection with the provision of such services or care |
| |
must, in providing those services or that care, have regard to any advice or |
| |
guidance given to the person under this section. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
Functions: quality of health and social care information |
| |
266 | Assessment of quality of information |
| |
The Information Centre must from time to time— |
| |
(a) | assess the extent to which information it collects pursuant to a direction |
| |
under section 254 or a request under 255 meets the information |
| 5 |
standards published under section 250 (so far as they are applicable), |
| |
| |
(b) | publish a record of the results of the assessment. |
| |
267 | Power to establish accreditation scheme |
| |
(1) | Regulations may make provision for the establishment and operation of a |
| 10 |
scheme for the accreditation of information service providers (“the |
| |
| |
(2) | The regulations may provide that the accreditation scheme is to be established |
| |
and operated by the Information Centre or such other person as the Secretary |
| |
of State may specify in the regulations (the “operator”). |
| 15 |
(3) | The regulations may, in particular, confer power on the operator— |
| |
(a) | to establish the procedure for accrediting information service providers |
| |
| |
(b) | to set the criteria to be met by a provider in order to be accredited (“the |
| |
accreditation criteria”), |
| 20 |
(c) | to keep an accreditation under the scheme under review, and |
| |
(d) | to charge a reasonable fee in respect of an application for accreditation. |
| |
(4) | The regulations may make provision requiring the operator— |
| |
(a) | to publish details of the scheme, including, in particular, the |
| |
| 25 |
(b) | to provide for the review of a decision to refuse an application for |
| |
| |
(c) | to provide advice to applicants for accreditation with a view to |
| |
ensuring that they meet the accreditation criteria. |
| |
(5) | In this section “information service provider” means any person other than a |
| 30 |
public body who provides services involving the collection, analysis, |
| |
publication or other dissemination of information in connection with the |
| |
provision of health services or of adult social care in England. |
| |
| |
268 | Database of quality indicators |
| 35 |
(1) | Regulations may make provision conferring functions on the Information |
| |
Centre in connection with the establishment, maintenance and publication of a |
| |
database of quality indicators in relation to the provision of health services and |
| |
of adult social care in England. |
| |
(2) | The regulations may, in particular, make provision about— |
| 40 |
(a) | the persons who may propose a quality indicator for inclusion in the |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
(b) | the giving of advice and guidance by the Information Centre to such |
| |
persons in relation to such a proposal, |
| |
(c) | the assessment and approval of quality indicators proposed for |
| |
inclusion in the database by such person as the Secretary of State or the |
| |
| 5 |
(d) | the inclusion in the database of guidance about how providers may |
| |
demonstrate performance measured against the quality indicators. |
| |
(3) | In this section a “quality indicator” means a factor by reference to which |
| |
performance in the provision of services or care can be measured. |
| |
269 | Power to confer functions in relation to identification of GPs |
| 10 |
(1) | Regulations may make provision conferring functions on the Information |
| |
Centre in connection with the verification of the identity of general medical |
| |
practitioners for purposes connected with the health service in England. |
| |
(2) | In subsection (1) “general medical practitioners” means persons registered in |
| |
the General Practitioner Register kept by the General Medical Council. |
| 15 |
| |
(1) | The Information Centre may do any of the following— |
| |
(a) | acquire, produce, manufacture and supply goods, |
| |
(b) | acquire land by agreement and manage and deal with land, |
| |
(c) | supply accommodation to any person, |
| 20 |
(d) | supply services to any person and provide new services, |
| |
(e) | provide instruction for any person, and |
| |
(f) | develop and exploit ideas and exploit intellectual property. |
| |
(2) | But the Information Centre may exercise a power under subsection (1) only— |
| |
(a) | if doing so involves, or is connected with, the collection, analysis, |
| 25 |
publication or other dissemination of information, and |
| |
(b) | to the extent that its exercise does not to any significant extent interfere |
| |
with the performance by the Centre of any function under or by virtue |
| |
of any other provision of this or any other Act. |
| |
(3) | The Information Centre may— |
| 30 |
(a) | charge for anything it does in the exercise of a power under |
| |
| |
(b) | calculate any such charge on the basis that it considers to be the |
| |
appropriate commercial basis. |
| |
271 | Arrangements with other bodies |
| 35 |
(1) | The Information Centre may arrange with any person or body to provide, or |
| |
assist in providing, any service which the Centre is required or authorised to |
| |
provide by virtue of this Chapter. |
| |
(2) | The power under this section may be exercised on such terms as may be |
| |
agreed, including terms as to the making of payments by or to the Information |
| 40 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
272 | Failure by Information Centre to discharge any of its functions |
| |
(1) | The Secretary of State may give a direction to the Information Centre if the |
| |
Secretary of State considers that— |
| |
| |
(i) | is failing or has failed to discharge any of its functions, or |
| 5 |
(ii) | is failing or has failed properly to discharge any of its functions, |
| |
| |
(b) | the failure is significant. |
| |
(2) | A direction under subsection (1) may direct the Information Centre to |
| |
discharge such of those functions, and in such manner and within such period |
| 10 |
or periods, as may be specified in the direction. |
| |
(3) | If the Information Centre fails to comply with a direction under subsection (1), |
| |
the Secretary of State may— |
| |
(a) | discharge the functions to which it relates, or |
| |
(b) | make arrangements for any other person to discharge them on the |
| 15 |
Secretary of State’s behalf. |
| |
(4) | Where the Secretary of State exercises a power under subsection (1) or (3), the |
| |
Secretary of State must publish reasons for doing so. |
| |
(5) | For the purposes of this section, a failure to discharge a function properly |
| |
includes a failure to discharge it consistently with what the Secretary of State |
| 20 |
considers to be the interests of the health service in England or (as the case may |
| |
be) with what otherwise appears to the Secretary of State to be the purpose for |
| |
| |
273 | Protection from personal liability |
| |
(1) | Section 265 of the Public Health Act 1875 (which relates to the protection of |
| 25 |
members and officers of certain authorities from personal liability) has effect as |
| |
if there were included in the authorities referred to in that section a reference |
| |
to the Information Centre. |
| |
(2) | In its application to the Information Centre as provided for by subsection (1), |
| |
section 265 of that Act has effect as if any reference in that section to the Public |
| 30 |
Health Act 1875 were a reference to this Act. |
| |
General and supplementary |
| |
274 | Powers of Secretary of State or Board to give directions |
| |
(1) | Regulations may make provision conferring powers on the Secretary of State |
| |
or the Board to give directions— |
| 35 |
(a) | requiring a health or social care body to exercise such of the |
| |
Information Centre’s functions as may be specified; |
| |
(b) | requiring the Centre or another health or social care body to exercise |
| |
such information functions of the Secretary of State or (as the case may |
| |
be) the Board as may be specified; |
| 40 |
(c) | requiring the Centre to exercise such of the information functions of |
| |
any health or social care body as may be specified; |
| |
(d) | requiring the Centre to exercise such systems delivery functions of the |
| |
Secretary of State or (as the case may be) the Board as may be specified. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
(2) | A function required to be exercised by a direction given by the Secretary of |
| |
State or the Board by virtue of subsection (1) is subject to directions given by |
| |
the Secretary of State or (as the case may be) the Board about the exercise of the |
| |
| |
(3) | A power conferred on the Secretary of State under subsection (1)(a) must |
| 5 |
provide that a direction may be given in respect of a function of the |
| |
Information Centre only if the function relates to information which is of a |
| |
description prescribed in the regulations and— |
| |
(a) | in respect of which the Secretary of State may give a direction under |
| |
| 10 |
(b) | which the Secretary of State considers is information in respect of |
| |
which a mandatory request may be made under section 255. |
| |
(4) | A power conferred on the Board under subsection (1)(a) must provide that a |
| |
direction may be given in respect of a function of the Information Centre only |
| |
if the function relates to information which is of a description prescribed in the |
| 15 |
regulations and in respect of which the Board may give a direction under |
| |
| |
(5) | A power conferred under subsection (1)(a) must provide that a direction must |
| |
include provision requiring the body in question to provide the Information |
| |
Centre with the information it needs to comply with the duty under section 264 |
| 20 |
(duty to publish information register). |
| |
(6) | A power conferred on the Secretary of State under subsection (1)(d) must |
| |
provide that a direction may include provision about payments by the |
| |
Secretary of State to the Information Centre for things done in the exercise of |
| |
the function in respect of which the direction is given. |
| 25 |
(7) | A power conferred on the Board under subsection (1)(d) must provide that a |
| |
direction must permit the Information Centre to charge the Board a reasonable |
| |
fee in respect of the cost of complying with the direction. |
| |
(8) | A power conferred under subsection (1)(d) must provide that the giving of a |
| |
direction does not prevent the Secretary of State or (as the case may be) the |
| 30 |
Board from exercising the function in respect of which the direction is given. |
| |
| |
“information function” means a function in relation to the collection, |
| |
analysis, publication or other dissemination of information; |
| |
“specified” means specified in a direction given under regulations made |
| 35 |
| |
“systems delivery function”— |
| |
(a) | in relation to the Secretary of State, means a function of the |
| |
Secretary of State which is exercisable in relation to the |
| |
development or operation of information or communications |
| 40 |
systems in connection with the provision of health services or of |
| |
adult social care in England; |
| |
(b) | in relation to the Board, means a function of the Board which is |
| |
exercisable in relation to the development or operation of |
| |
information or communications systems in connection with the |
| 45 |
provision of NHS services. |
| |
|
| |
|