We will work with suppliers wishing to develop or enhance services to the NHS and social care sectors and such support will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The following principles will usually apply to data access requests where these are not made under the Freedom of Information Act.

• data that is already in the public domain would be accessed either directly by the supplier or via The IC who will share its knowledge about what information is available, where and would advise supplier how to seek any necessary approvals, as well as indicating the likely cost and time required
• suppliers wishing to obtain record level data which contains patient identifiable variables will need to have obtained either patient consent or an exemption from consent granted under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001
• for research, you may also need to obtain Research Ethics Committee Approval details of which can be found on the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees
• data that identifies, or potentially identifies, individual patients, doctors or commercial products (eg GP data, HES and prescribing data) can be released only for statistical or research purposes, under the terms of the Department of Health Data Protection registration.

Detailed guidance on gaining approval to use and access to national data is being developed.