The Cabinet Office and Department of Health have announced how they will legally share data

In a move that could soon be followed by other public sector bodies, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health announced this month that they will jointly develop a single protocol for health and social care services to legally share data.

The plan is revealed in a joint report from the two departments, which admits "persistent confusion" currently exists over the extent to which the Data Protection Act (DPA) prevents the sharing of citizens' data across health and social care departments.

It recommends a single national protocol should be established to define when and how staff can share data.

Experts welcomed the move, but argued that clear protocols were needed across the wider public sector to avoid confusion, particularly among IT departments, about the extent to which the DPA allows integration of data across departments.

Tola Sargeant of analyst firm Ovum said there were guidelines for legal data sharing, but argued that many public sector staff are worried that they might interpret them wrongly.

"There needs to be clearer guidance on data sharing and this [protocol] is exactly what is needed elsewhere in the public sector," she added.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said work was already underway to draw up wider data sharing guidelines and a ministerial committee was set up late last year specifically to tackle the issue.

He added that the Transformational Government implementation plan, which will be published later this month, is also expected to provide further guidance on data sharing.