This quick guide is for local authorities in England who run their own inhouse adult social care services. It provides links and key information to ensure councils’ inhouse services are covered by a Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT).
For information on local authorities’ responsibilities as a commissioner, please see Commissioners and the DSPT.
The DSPT needs to be completed every year. The deadline is 30 June.
Local authorities need to decide which DSPT route is most appropriate for them:
Consider the following questions:
If the answers to all 4 questions are yes (or very similar) – then all services would have the same responses to the questions in the Toolkit and you can complete one DSPT to cover the local authority and its in-house services
Complete your DSPT as usual. Once you have submitted contact the DSPT team at [email protected] and ask them to extend your submission to cover your sites. You will need to provide the ODS code of your services and these will then show up on reports.
If your services have different policies and procedures to each other and the local authority, then they should each complete a site level DSPT themselves. It would be helpful to explore how you can support them with this, for example, by providing access to IT and IG teams as required.
If inhouse services are completing their own DSPTs, they will need to register and complete, or review and republish their toolkit entry. As a council, you can support them to do this – and the Better Security, Better Care programme provides free detailed guidance and direct support as well.
Your inhouse services should:
Log in and carry out an organisational search using ODS code or name to find out if your organisation is already registered https://www.dsptoolkit.nhs.uk/OrganisationSearch.
If the service is registered, but they cannot remember the log in details for their DSPT account, contact the DSPT team [email protected] Tel: 0300 303 4034
If the service is not registered, they will need to register on the DSPT with their ODS code (V code for individual sites). If you have this code, you should provide it to them. If not, please see our guidance on finding ODS codes.
Once they have completed the initial phase of registration, the service will receive a confirmation email with an activation link. They need to use this within 24 hours of registration otherwise it expires, and they will have to start again.
If the service had previously completed the DSPT, their previous answers will be available. They can simply review, update, reconfirm and republish. See our guidance.
If they are completing for the first time, they should aim to reach Standards Met (by completing 42 mandatory questions). If they can’t, they can get to Approaching Standards by completing 26 questions and producing an Action Plan outlining how they will reach Standards Met next time. See our guidance.
They cannot complete at Approaching Standards more than once. And Entry Level is no longer a standard on the DSPT.
The Better Security, Better Care programme is a national and local support programme – funded by the NHS – to help care providers complete the DSPT.
If you, as a local authority, are completing the DSPT on behalf of all your inhouse services, and you need advice, please contact our national team.
If you or your inhouse services need help with ODS codes, or other technical issues with using the DSPT, contact the DSPT team directly at [email protected] Tel: 0300 303 4034