General Practitioners: Disclosure of Information

The Government is committed to improving information sharing across services to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and the Home Office on their respective information sharing proposals, which are included in Department for Education’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill.

The information sharing proposals aim to establish a clear and consistent process to share information. To support the formulation and test the feasibility of these proposals, we have engaged with health stakeholders, including general practitioners, though a variety of forums. We will continue to engage with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the use of the single unique identifier, the information sharing duty, and the child sexual abuse mandatory reporting duty.

The Department for Education has published an impact assessment on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments

The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have published an impact assessment on the Crime and Policing Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-impact-assessments

We will continue to support the departments leading on the respective bills to review and update these documents, once the bills have completed their passages through the House of Lords.