National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care

The National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care (NIGB) was established in the United Kingdom under section 157 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, with effect from October 2008, with a range of advisory functions relating to information governance. From January 2009, the NIGB also gained functions under section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 which had previously been held by the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG) until its abolition. These functions were to advise the Secretary of State for Health on the use of powers to set aside the common law duty of confidentiality in England where identifiable patient information is needed and where consent is not practicable. From 1 April 2013, the NIGB's functions for monitoring and improving information governance practice have transferred to the Care Quality Commission, which established a National Information Governance Committee to oversee this work. Functions relating to section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 (access to people’s personal and confidential information for research purposes) were transferred to the Health Research Authority's Confidentiality Advisory Group.

The key functions of the NIGB (excerpted from the legislation) were:

The definition of “relevant information” in the legislation covers patient information, any other information obtained or generated in the course of the provision of the health service, and any information obtained or generated in the course of the exercise by a local social services authority in England of its adult social services functions.

Some areas of NIGB functions (d) and (e) above had been delegated to the NIGB’s Ethics and Confidentiality Committee (ECC). These functions primarily related to applications to use identifiable patient information without consent, in specific circumstances within the bounds of section 251 of the NHS Act 2006. These applications, which had been considered by PIAG before the NIGB, passed on to the Health Research Authority's Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) on 1 April 2013.

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