Adult social care information
Adult social care is governed by a national regulatory framework but is generally delivered at a local level by local authorities. Under normal circumstances, aggregated adult social care data is collected from local authorities once a year and is published by NHS Digital. Prior to this Act, there was no mechanism to collect data from private social care providers and, due to the frequency with which data is collected from public providers and local authorities, it is not always complete, accurate or up to date. This has resulted in gaps in the information available to inform policy decisions or to identify and respond to emerging issues and risks.
	The provisions in the Act reflect a view that data relating to care received by individuals is more useful than aggregate data in enabling the linking and use of data across health and adult social care to improve services and to monitor people’s care through the whole care system. The provisions also aim to ensure consistency of data whether care is publicly arranged or arranged privately by individuals.
	Alongside client data, being able to collect information from, and about, providers in a consistent way will enable effective oversight and management of the social care market by improving the understanding of capacity and risk in the system, enabling identification of when and how to target direct support to providers and enabling identification of and responses to social care workforce needs including recruitment, retention, and equality policies. This information would continue to be subject to restrictions under the Data Protection Act 2018, the UK GDPR and the common law duty of confidentiality (although the provision of the information to DHSC would not itself breach the common law duty of confidentiality).