Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019

(iii) evaluating the effectiveness of services provided by public bodies, and

(iv) evaluating the effectiveness of expenditure by public bodies;

(e) to ensure that information is managed by public bodies in accordance with international best practice as regards data protection;

(f) to improve the availability and accessibility for re-use and redistribution of information, other than personal data, held by public bodies.

(3) A rule, procedure or standard prescribed under subsection (1)(a) shall apply to information—

(a) collected for statistical purposes in accordance with the Statistics Act 1993, or

(b) disclosed in accordance with regulations made under section 2 of the Vital Statistics and Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1952.

65. Guidelines

65. (1) The Minister may, after consultation with such (if any) other Ministers of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate, prepare and issue guidelines (including guidelines in relation to rules, procedures or standards prescribed under section 64) to assist public bodies in the performance of their functions under this Act or other enactments relating to data-sharing.

(2) Public bodies shall have regard to the guidelines, if any, issued under this section in the performance of their functions under this Act and the provisions of other enactments relating to data-sharing.

66. Model agreements

66. (1) The Minister may, after consultation with such (if any) other Ministers of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate, prepare or revise model data-sharing agreements for the purpose of this Act or another enactment relating to data-sharing.

(2) The Minister may request the Board to provide advice in relation to the preparation or revision of model data-sharing agreements.

(3) Where a model data-sharing agreement has been prepared or revised, as the case may be, for the purpose of an enactment under subsection (1), a public body entering into a data-sharing agreement for the purpose of that enactment shall use the model data-sharing agreement as a basis for the data-sharing agreement to be entered into by it.

67. Publication of regulations and guidelines

67. The Minister shall publish, on a website maintained by him or her—

(a) the rules, procedures and standards, if any, prescribed under section 64, and

(b) the guidelines, if any, issued under section 65.

68. Compliance report

68. (1) The Board may by notification in writing request a public body to provide a compliance report within a particular time.

(2) A public body shall provide the Board with a compliance report within the time period specified in a notification given to the public body under subsection (1).

(3) In this section, “compliance report” means a statement signed by—

(a) the person who is the accounting officer, in relation to the appropriation accounts of the public body concerned, for the purposes of the Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1866 to 1998, or

(b) where there is no such accounting officer, the person who holds, or performs the functions of, the office of chief executive officer (by whatever name called) of the public body,

detailing how the public body has complied with its obligations under this Act and the orders and regulations, if any, made under this Act.

PART 10 Miscellaneous

69. Prohibition on requests for certain documents

69. (1) The Minister may, following consultation with any relevant Minister of the Government and having had regard to the matters referred to in subsection (4), prescribe—

(a) certain documents or classes of document the provision of which a public body shall not request from a person (other than a public body) in original, copy or electronic form, or

(b) certain uses for the purposes of which a public body shall not request the provision of certain documents or classes of documents from a person (other than a public body) in original, copy or electronic form.

(2) A public body shall not—

(a) request a document or class of document which is prescribed under subsection (1)(a), or

(b) request a document or class of document for the purposes of a use of such a document or class of document which is prescribed under subsection (1)(b).

(3) In this section “relevant Minister of the Government” means a Minister of the Government the exercise of whose functions would be affected by the making of an order proposed to be made under subsection (1).

(4) The matters to which the Minister is to have regard for the purposes of subsection (1) are as follows:

(a) whether the proposed prohibition would facilitate the carrying out of a function of a public body by—

(i) reducing the duplication of tasks carried out by one or more public bodies,

(ii) increasing the efficiency of the public body in carrying out the function, or

(iii) facilitating an improvement in the quality of services being delivered by one or more public bodies;

(b) whether the proposed prohibition would reduce the need for a person to provide the same information to more than one public body.

70. Specification of information

70. (1) The Minister may, with the consent of such other (if any) Minister of the Government as the Minister considers appropriate having regard to the functions of that other Minister, for the purposes of—

(a) ensuring greater consistency and accuracy of information held and managed by public bodies, and

(b) increasing the usefulness of information held and used by public bodies for the purposes of—

(i) performing their functions,

(ii) modernising and developing public services,

(iii) evaluating the effectiveness of services provided by public bodies, and

(iv) evaluating the effectiveness of expenditure by public bodies,

direct a public body to collect information or classes of information specified in the direction.

(2) A direction under subsection (1) may specify the format in which the information is to be stored following collection.

(3) A public body to which a direction under subsection (1) applies shall comply with the direction.

(4) This section applies to—

(a) personal data (including special categories of personal data), and

(b) information other than personal data,

whether or not the disclosure of that information is regulated by this or any other enactment.

71. Provision of information on data-sharing

71. (1) The Minister may direct a public body to provide him or her with the information specified in subsection (2).

(2) The information referred to in subsection (1) is as follows:

(a) a list of all data-sharing arrangements that that body has engaged in with other public bodies under this or any other enactment, setting out in respect of each such arrangement—

(i) the names of the participants in the arrangement,

(ii) the purpose of the data-sharing,

(iii) the function of the public body concerned to which the purpose referred to in subparagraph (ii) relates,

(iv) the legal basis for the data-sharing and any further processing, by the parties to the arrangement, of the information disclosed pursuant to the arrangement,

(v) a description of the information disclosed pursuant to the arrangement,

(vi) how the information is processed following its disclosure,

(vii) any restrictions on the disclosure of information after the processing of such information referred to in subparagraph (vi),

(viii) where a data protection impact assessment has been carried out, a summary of the matters referred to in Article 35(7) of the General Data Protection Regulation,

(ix) the security measures applied to the transmission, storage and accessing of personal data, in a manner that does not compromise those security measures,

(x) the requirements in relation to the retention of—

(I) the information disclosed, and

(II) the information resulting from the processing of that information,

for the duration of the arrangement and in the event that the arrangement is terminated, and

(xi) the method employed or to be employed to destroy or delete—

(I) the information disclosed, and

(II) the information resulting from the processing of that information,

at the end of the period for which the information is to be retained in accordance with the arrangement;

(b) any alteration of the data-sharing arrangements referred to in subsection (2)in the period since the public body last provided information on such data-sharing arrangements to the Minister;

(c) such additional information as may be prescribed under subsection (5).

(3) A direction under subsection (1) may specify that the information be provided—

(a) on a periodic basis, or

(b) on each occasion that a new arrangement is entered into or an existing arrangement is altered in any way.

(4) A public body to which a direction under subsection (1)applies shall comply with the direction.

(5) The Minister may, for the purposes of—

(a) increasing transparency in the activities of public bodies as regards their sharing of information under this Act or any other enactment, and

(b) promoting good governance in the sharing of information under this Act or any other enactment,

prescribe additional information to be provided by a public body in receipt of a direction under subsection (1).

(6) The Minister shall publish, on a website maintained by him or her, all of the information received by him or her pursuant to a direction issued under subsection (1).

72. Amendment of Act of 1997

72. Section 917D of the Act of 1997 is amended in subsection (1) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “digital signature”:

“ ‘digital signature’ in relation to a person, means—

(a) a qualified certificate (within the meaning of the Electronic Commerce Act 2000) provided to the person by the Revenue Commissioners (or a person appointed in that behalf by the Revenue Commissioners), and

(b) an advanced electronic signature (within the meaning of that Act) generated using the qualified certificate referred to in paragraph (a);”.

73. Amendment of Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011

73. Section 17A of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) Information provided to the Minister under subsection (1) shall not include any personal data (within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation), unless that information is provided in accordance with Part 5 of the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019.”.

74. Amendment of Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005

74. Schedule 5 to the Act of 2005 is amended by the insertion, in paragraph 1(4), of “the National Shared Services Office,” after “the National Council for Special Education”.

75. Amendment of National Shared Services Office Act 2017

75. Section 6 of the National Shared Services Office Act 2017 is amended in subsection (1) by the substitution of “An Oifig Náisiúnta um Sheirbhísí Comhroinnte” for “Oifig Náisiúnta Seirbhísí Comhroinnte”.