Today the draft Code of Practice for Public Authorities Sharing Information with Digital Verification Services has been laid in Parliament. This represents a significant milestone in our plans to commence the information gateway.
The Code of Practice
The Code provides guidance which public authorities must have regard to when sharing information with registered digital verification services (DVS) under section 45 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. This power is referred to as the 'information gateway'.
As explained in our previous blog post on the information gateway, the power allows public authorities to share information with registered DVS, as long as certain conditions are met. This includes both direct issuance of government-issued credentials to be stored in registered private sector wallets, and sharing specific attributes or status checks, depending on what's needed for the use case in question. We encourage DVS and public authorities to discuss these requirements as part of establishing data sharing agreements governing use of the power.
Commencement of section 45 (the information gateway)
The Code must now be approved by both Houses of Parliament before it is published as final, which we are aiming to do by the end of the year. Subject to this approval, we also intend to commence section 45 of the Data Act at the same time as the Code is published.
With regards to HMRC, the Welsh Revenue Authority and Revenue Scotland, we will not be commencing section 45 for those three authorities this year. We are continuing to work towards commencing the information gateway for them (and the accompanying provisions in sections 46, 47, and 48), and will set out a timeline for this in due course.
Next steps
We will provide further updates and guidance on the Code and the information gateway on the blog in the coming weeks. This will include confirmation if and when the Code has been approved by Parliament, and commencement of section 45.
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