Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025

Part 1 S Health and social care information

Chapter 1 S Digital care record

1 Ministers to facilitate creation of records S

(1) The Scottish Ministers must exercise their powers under this Part so that every person who receives health care or a social service in Scotland can have a digital integrated care record.

(2) The purpose of a digital care record is to—

(a) enable Scottish health and social care information to be shared securely and efficiently amongst providers of health care and social services so that people’s experiences of health care and social services are as safe and seamless as possible, and

(b) ensure that people are, so far as practicable and consistent with data protection legislation, able to access their own Scottish health and social care information in a format accessible to them and exercise control over it.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt—

(a) fulfilling the duty imposed by subsection (1) is not the only purpose for which the Scottish Ministers may exercise their powers under this Part,

(b) in order to fulfil that duty, the Scottish Ministers may also exercise other functions.

(4) In this section—

• “health care” means a service for or in connection with the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness,

• “illness” is to be construed in accordance with section 108(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978,

• “Scottish health and social care information” means information concerning, or connected with, the provision in Scotland of health care or a social service,

• “social service” has the same meaning as it has in Part 5 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (see section 46(2) of that Act).

Commencement Information

I1 S. 1 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

I2 S. 1 in force at 7.1.2026 by S.S.I. 2025/388, reg. 2(1)(2), sch. Pt. 1

Prospective

Chapter 2 S Information sharing schemes

2 Power to create schemes S

(1) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations provide for a scheme that allows information to be shared in order that public health and social care services can be provided efficiently and effectively.

(2) Regulations under subsection (1) may in particular—

(a) require one person to supply information to another person,

(b) specify the purposes for which, and circumstances in which, information shared under a scheme may be used,

(c) create sanctions (civil or criminal) for those who fail to comply with the regulations’ requirements.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a public health and social care service is a service provided in pursuance of—

(a) a function conferred by virtue of an enactment listed in the schedule of the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014, or

(b) a function that is exercisable by—

(i) a health board constituted under section 2(1)(a) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978, or

(ii) a special health board constituted under section 2(1)(b) of that Act.

(4) For the avoidance of doubt, regulations under subsection (1) may provide for information to be shared in order for it to be used not only directly in the performance of the functions mentioned in subsection (3) but also in the performance of any function that supports the efficient and effective provision of public health and social care services (for example, the Scottish Ministers’ functions under section 58 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001).

Commencement Information

I3 S. 2 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

Prospective

Chapter 3 S Information standards

3 Power to produce standards S

(1) For the purposes of this Chapter, an information standard is a document, produced by the Scottish Ministers, setting out requirements in relation to the processing of Scottish health and social care information.

(2) An information standard may set out requirements by reference to another document (including a document which is not in existence when the standard is produced).

(3) For any requirement it sets out, an information standard must specify—

(a) to whom the requirement applies (see section 4), and

(b) the information in relation to the processing of which the requirement applies.

(4) The Scottish Ministers must make any information standard they produce publicly available on the information-standards website.

Commencement Information

I4 S. 3 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

4 Persons to whom standards may apply S

(1) The persons to whom a requirement set out in an information standard may be made to apply are—

(a) a local authority,

(b) an integration joint board established by order under the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act 2014,

(c) a health board constituted under section 2(1)(a) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (“the NHS Act”),

(d) a special health board constituted under section 2(1)(b) of the NHS Act,

(e) the Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service,

(f) Healthcare Improvement Scotland,

(g) the Scottish Ministers,

(h) a person providing services (whether directly or indirectly) pursuant to an agreement or other arrangement under any of the following provisions of the NHS Act—

(i) section 2C (which relates to primary medical services),

(ii) section 17C (which relates to personal medical or dental services),

(iii) section 17J (which relates to general medical services),

(iv) section 25 (which relates to general dental services),

(v) section 26 (which relates to general ophthalmic services),

(vi) section 27 (which relates to pharmaceutical services),

(i) a person providing independent health care services as defined by section 10F of the NHS Act,

(j) a person providing a care service as defined by section 47 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010,

(k) a person providing social work services as defined by section 48 of that Act,

(l) a person who—

(i) provides a product or service to a person mentioned in any of paragraphs (a) to (k), and

(ii) knows, or ought to know, that the product or service is (or is to be) used for, or in connection with, electronically processing Scottish health or social care information.

(2) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify this section so as to change, or clarify, the list of persons to whom an information standard may be made to apply.

Commencement Information

I5 S. 4 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

5 Duty to comply with standards S

(1) A person to whom a requirement set out in an information standard applies must comply with it.

(2) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations provide for a civil sanction to be imposed on a person who breaches the duty under subsection (1).

Commencement Information

I6 S. 5 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

6 Withdrawal of standards S

(1) The Scottish Ministers may withdraw an information standard at any time by giving notice on the information-standards website that it is withdrawn.

(2) When an information standard is withdrawn—

(a) the duty under section 3(4) to make it publicly available ceases to apply, and

(b) the duty under section 5(1) to comply with it ceases to apply.

Commencement Information

I7 S. 6 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)

7 Interpretation of Chapter 3 S

(1) In this Chapter—

• “information-standards website” means the website maintained by, or on behalf of, the Scottish Ministers with an internet domain name specified by the Scottish Ministers by regulations,

• “processing” includes doing any of the things referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f) of section 3(4) of the Data Protection Act 2018,

• “Scottish health and social care information” has the meaning given in section 1(4).

(2) By regulations, the Scottish Ministers—

(a) must amend the definition of “information-standards website” so that it specifies an internet domain name, and

(b) may subsequently amend that definition so as to change the internet domain name it specifies.

Commencement Information

I8 S. 7 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 39(2)