Our governance
The main decision-making, executive and managerial bodies at NHS Digital (formerly the Health and Social Care Information Centre).
NHS Digital Board
The board is the senior decision-making structure of the organisation, accountable to the public, Parliament and the Secretary of State for Health.
Chair
Laura Wade-Gery, Chair
Non-Executive Directors
- Prof. Sudhesh Kumar, OBE
- Dr Marko Balabanovic
- Professor Soraya Dhillon, MBE
- Daniel Benton
- Deborah Oakley
- Balram Veliath
- John Noble CBE
- Ben Goldacre
- Steven Woodford
- Patrick Eltridge
Chief Executive
Simon Bolton, Interim Chief Executive Officer
Executive Members
- Carl Vincent, Chief Financial Officer
- Professor Jonathan Benger, Chief Medical Officer
Ex officio members
- Matthew Gould
Other Members of the Executive Management Team (may attend the Board at the discretion of the Chair):
Please visit the membership biographies
Future board meetings
Public sessions of the board are held regularly. Members of the public are welcome to attend and observe these meetings.
Agendas and papers will be available on the NHS Digital website one working day before the meeting date.
The board might need to consider commercial or confidential staff agenda items that can’t be discussed in public. If so, a private session will also be held without any observers.
Future board dates
For further information regarding future board meetings please visit the Board meetings page on the NHS Digital website.
Minutes and board papers
The board meets throughout the year. Minutes and board papers are available from each meeting:
Copies of the board meetings are available from the NHS Digital website.
Board meetings page
Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD)
The Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) is an independent group, hosted by NHS Digital, which considers applications for data made to NHS Digital’s Data Access Request Service
IGARD is made up of a panel of independent members.
Department of Health HSCIC Framework Agreement
The relationship between the Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Information Centre is defined in the Framework Agreement. This is unaffected by the change of name to NHS Digital.
Department of Health HSCIC Strategic Objectives
The Department of Health’s Strategic Objectives for the Health and Social Care Information Centre: April 2014 to March 2015 are set out in the HSCIC Statement of Strategic Objectives.
Directions and Mandatory Requests
Directions are no longer being updated on this page. For more up to date information please visit the NHS Digital website.
The Health and Social Care Act sets out the powers of the Secretary of State and NHS England to direct the HSCIC (now known as NHS Digital) to carry out additional functions concerning:
- Information functions
- The information functions of any health or social care body
- Systems delivery functions.
Directions and Mandatory requests issued
*HSCIC]: Health and Social Care Information Centre *[DAAG]: Data Access Advisory Group