Information standards
For the health and social care system to work efficiently and effectively, data needs to flow through the system in a standardised way, so that when it is accessed by or provided to an organisation for any purpose it can be read by, be meaningful to, and be easily understood by the recipient and/or user of the data. This relies on data being collected, processed, and shared in a consistent way.
	Information standards set standards relating to processing information, including standards about how information is shared, and which make it easier to compare data, across the publicly funded health and social care system. They are prepared and published by the Secretary of State (in relation to health services and adult social care) and by NHS England in relation to NHS services. They apply to the Secretary of State and NHS England as well as to bodies involved in the provision of publicly arranged health or adult social care services in England.
	The changes in this Act arise from a desire to further improve the consistency with which information systems used by health and adult social care providers adopt a standardised approach to the collection, storage and processing of data. The aim is to enable the Secretary of State DHSC and NHS England to publish mandatory standards. Providers of health or adult social care to whom such standards apply will have to comply with them rather than just have regard to them. It is also intended to extend the potential application of information standards to include private providers of health and adult social care.