Care Bill — Clause 116 — Require Secretary of State's Approval For Use of Confidential Patient Information for Medical Research — 11 Mar 2014 at 14:30

The majority of MPs voted against requiring the Secretary of State's approval before any use of confidential patient information for medical research; allowing the Health Research Authority alone to give approval.

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment 29, page 100, line 29, after ‘Authority’, insert ‘and the Secretary of State’

This would have affected clause 116(2)(b) of the Bill^[2] which at the time of the vote stated:

• (b) in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph, for “both the Secretary of State and a research ethics committee” substitute “the Health Research Authority”.

this referred to a provision in the Bill amending regulation 5 of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/1438) which at the time of the vote stated:

• Subject to regulation 7, confidential patient information may be processed for medical purposes in the circumstances set out in the Schedule to these Regulations provided that the processing has been approved—
• (a)in the case of medical research, by both the Secretary of State and a research ethics committee, and
• (b)in any other case, by the Secretary of State.

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Care Bill
• [2] Clause 116 of the Care Bill as it stood at the time of the vote

Debate in Parliament | Source |