Data Access Committees

Data Access Committees (DACs) act as gatekeepers for access to data within the North West SDE.

There are three DACs in the North West, covering:

• Cheshire and Merseyside
• Greater Manchester
• Lancashire and South Cumbria.

The DACs draw their membership from information governance expertise across health and care data controllers, universities and providers and patient representatives.

All DACs will ensure adequate public representation is available and present at each meeting. The DACs are responsible for ensuring that all requests for access to data are facilitated within the scope of the agreed Information Governance compliance materials.

Get involved with DAC

(Information to follow)

DAC role and responsibilities 

• Represent the interests of both data controllers and the public.
• To receive assurance.
• Oversight of the data access request process, including review, approving and rejecting requests.
• Ensure there is an assessment of medical purpose and public interest prior to agreeing data access.
• Ensuring all Information Governance requirements are met, including GDPR and the Common Law Duty of confidentiality, Caldicott principles, data minimisation and public benefit. 
• Ensuring programmes applying have undertaken appropriate Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement in their design.  
• Ensuring individuals and organisations applying have met the required conditions for data access.  
• Ensuring technical specifications of data and technology are accurate and data is minimised to project specific requirements. 
• Oversight of the development of the process, ensuring the process is developed in line with any changes to national policy or data sharing arrangements and escalating to the Information Governance Sub-committee where changes need to happen. 
• Ensuring Applications have adequate scientific critique of research proposals.
• Ensuring an annual report is submitted to CAG for the entire duration that confidential patient information is being processed without consent.