All charities registered in England or Wales, regardless of their annual income, must send a digital annual return to the Charity Commission. These returns are publicly available in a machine readable PDF format on the Charity Commission's website.

The Charity Commission is committed to further digitalisation of the submission of annual accounts information and will continue to explore solutions which are proportionate, affordable and minimise the regulatory burden on charities.

Currently, there are no steps being taken to standardise full time equivalent employment data across companies, charities and mutuals filed with regulators/registrars.

DCMS publishes official statistics on Culture and Creative Industries employment. These include statistics on the number of filled jobs using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey, both household surveys, and skills gaps and shortages from the Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey.

The department also supports research into the creative industries and jointly with the Creative Industries Council has funded the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre to undertake the creative employers skills survey. This is a new survey of 1,300 businesses across the creative industries in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that aims to add to our understanding of the skills challenges of today and the talent and skills that will be crucial to the success of the industry in the future.

The understanding that we gain from this data is important for informing our policy work on workforce practice, job quality, careers and training pathways in the creative industries. The main data sources that DCMS currently draw on in these areas are survey based and are not based on administrative data. However, DCMS keeps its statistics and research requirements under review to ensure decision making is based on the best available evidence, including exploring administrative and other data sources where relevant.

DCMS is looking more widely into the cultural sector's data needs as the digital data ecosystem grows and evolves. This includes supporting both the Bradford City of Culture team's work on cultural data dashboards and North East Culture Connect, an open access data platform, delivered in collaboration with Northumbria University, North East Combined Authority, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The platform brings together a subset of cultural data from across the North East in a series of dashboards that are intended to be expanded with new data. The data includes information on income streams, funding recipients, and sector economic characteristics, which can support analysis of the financial health of the sector. Furthermore, DCMS is on the Steering Group for the National Cultural Data Observatory project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, led by the Centre for Cultural Value at the University of Leeds, with partners including MyCake, and The Audience Agency. The project aims to develop a blueprint for a national cultural data observatory for the UK, incorporating a range of data.

The Government is committed to supporting our heritage, culture and creative industries to thrive for years to come.

We recognise the value of cross-border exchanges for craftspeople, particularly in Europe. The UK has a number of visa routes suitable for people coming to work in skilled trades, or to do training or work experience. More broadly, the Government will work to improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU by tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade.

The Government recognises there are skills gaps and shortages in creative sectors and is working with industry to identify current and future skills needs. Across the economy, the people that create and work in businesses will be central to successful growth, and the Government has already taken some steps to support this, including establishing Skills England. We have heard calls from businesses for greater flexibility in our apprenticeships system, and greater flexibility in how employers spend levy funds. And we are acting. That’s why our reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers.

To simplify access to data controlled by the National Health Service and encourage innovation partnerships, the Government is developing a policy framework underpinned by five guiding principles. This will offer support and guidance to NHS organisations that are considering entering into data access agreements with researchers and commercial partners.

The framework is expected to be published later this year and is being developed in consultation with patient representative groups, health and data experts, NHS bodies and industry. To support the NHS in embedding the framework in practice, the Government has set up a National Centre of Expertise in NHSX to provide commercial and legal expertise to NHS organisations on agreeing fair terms when negotiating partnerships.

The Government has also committed funding for the Digital Innovation Hubs Programme which aims to enable a United Kingdom-wide life sciences environment that provides responsible and safe access to rich, research-ready health data, technology and science, research and innovation services.

The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The National Health Service does not operate a data localisation policy. In January 2018 the Department, NHS England, NHS Digital and NHS Improvement published guidance for the NHS on offshoring patient data. A copy of NHS and social care data: off-shoring and the use of public cloud services is attached.

NHS and social care organisations are permitted to host patient identifiable data in countries that provide an adequate level of protection; within the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, countries deemed by the European Commission to have adequate protections for the rights of data subjects, or in the United States where covered by Privacy Shield. There are no restrictions on where in the UK data may reside. For example, data from the NHS in England data may be hosted in Scotland, and vice versa.

The guidance makes clear that while there are no additional risks attached to hosting data offshore, local data controllers should adopt a risk based approach to decision making about offshoring data. This provides data controllers with the option of keeping data onshore when they feel it necessary to do so.

The UK Government follows standards as set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), which are the same standards used by the majority of private sector bodies (for more information please see the Companies Act 2006). Raw data is an intangible asset and would therefore be covered by IAS 38 Intangible Assets. The UK government follows IAS 38 as adapted for the public sector. The Government Financial Reporting Manual 2018-19 sets out these interpretations and adaptations.

The UK follows standards as set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Data sets are an intangible asset and would therefore be covered by IAS 38 Intangible Assets. The UK government follows IAS 38 as adapted for the public sector. The Government Financial Reporting Manual 2018-19 sets out these interpretations and adaptations. The latest available publication of Whole of Government Accounts 2016-17 reports government’s intangible assets as totalling £34.5 billion at 31 March 2017. HM Treasury does not collect information on the value of data sets within this total or where they are held. The accounting policy used by the Whole of Government Accounts in recognising intangible assets is as follows (per page 82 of the 2016-17 accounts): “Intangible assets are recognised if it is probable that they will result in future economic benefits to the government and if their cost can be measured reliably. Intangible assets are initially recognised at cost and subsequently valued based on current value in existing use. Where no active market exists, intangible assets are revalued using indices or another suitable model.”

The UK follows standards as set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), which is an internationally recognised standard setter. The UK Government applies International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adapted and interpreted for the public sector. Data sets are an intangible asset and would therefore be covered by IAS 38 Intangible Assets. The UK government follows IAS 38 as adapted for the public sector.

Under this standard, raw data would be unlikely to meet the definition of a recognisable asset. The government is unlikely to diverge from IFRS accounting standards in the Whole of Government Accounts

​The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger CB, National Statistician, to The Lord Freyberg, dated 15 October 2018.

Dear Lord Freyberg,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking if any Government controlled datasets are cited as capital assets on the National Balance Sheet; and if so, which ones (HL10475).

No datasets are individually cited within the National balance sheet. Using data sourced from the capital stocks perpetual inventory model (PIM), a depreciated estimate for the total value of computer software and databases for Central Government is produced and published within the National balance sheet[1]. This estimate would include all purchased software, such as spreadsheet or e-mail systems, as well as databases.

Yours sincerely,

John Pullinger

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/bulletins/nationalbalancesheet/2018

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will create a database of innovative treatments, when the Secretary of State directs the Health and Social Care Information Centre to establish such a database. The Centre will implement the database in accordance with the common law duty of confidence, data protection law and the information governance rules to which the Centre is subject.

The Access to Medical Treatments (Innovations) Bill, which has passed through all Parliamentary stages and is awaiting Royal Assent, provides a power to the Secretary of State for Health to direct the Health and Social Care Information Centre to; design, build and operate a database of innovative medicines which clinicians may wish to consider helping their patients gain access to, which will be implemented using internationally standardised medical coding.