Contract compliance visits - North Somerset

Further to previous correspondence with regards to the Contract Compliance Team requesting to view service user’s care plans and staff information, we asked the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) to clarify their original response as this did not appear to support our statutory obligations under the Care Act 2014.

The ICO have responded and clarified that they understand local authorities have statutory responsibilities and obligations to view information. The ICO recognises the Council is legally obliged to monitor the standard of care by any provider with whom it contracts, and the General Data Protection Regulations do not prevent care providers from sharing personal data necessary to meet that obligation. 

The ICO has recommended we need to work together to build an information sharing framework that allows care providers to share data lawfully and proportionately where needed by either party to meet their respective statutory duties. We will be consulting on the development of a data sharing agreement shortly. 

We are keen to re-establish our working relationship with you following the review of the information framework and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. While we are waiting for this to be issued, on the basis of the ICO’s response, we are planning to reinstate regular compliance monitoring in the next month. As part of the monitoring process we will be asking you to share service user records with us. If you have any questions or concerns about this please don’t hesitate to get in touch.