Mr. Dale Sunderland:

The primary place of action in that respect is the updating of the 1989 statutory instrument, which required that health data be provided to an individual's medical practitioner. This has given rise to complications, of course, in the context of access to records held by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We understand - we consulted on this at a very early stage - that good progress is being made on the updating of that statutory instrument and that this would involve a broad range of stakeholder engagement. I cannot really speak to that any further than that today, given that it is the Department of Health's responsibility and it is for that Department to propose what the updated legislative solution is to be. Certainly, however, it is acknowledged that there were complications arising from that 1989 statutory instrument, which inhibited the right of access, and that it needed to be updated. The Data Protection Act foresaw that in that section 60 provided that the 1989 statutory instrument would continue in force until such time as it was updated by the relevant Minister. We welcome that this work has started. Our key point, for the purposes of the draft Bill before the committee, is that we see that the Department should take into account any changes being made under that statutory instrument and make any according changes to the provisions of the proposed Bill in order that there be a synergy between the updated law in respect of that statutory instrument and what is ultimately provided for in this Bill.