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Victorian Public Sector Data Sharing Heads of Agreement

This Heads of Agreement operationalises the VPS Data Sharing Policy and provides a common framework with general data sharing terms and conditions.

Policy context and purpose

The Victorian Government recognises that access to data is critical both for responding to urgent priorities, such as managing the impact of COVID-19, as well as broader cross-government data needs to improve policies and services for Victorians.

The Victorian Public Sector Data Sharing Heads of Agreement (Heads of Agreement) supports cross-government data sharing by providing an overarching framework to streamline and accelerate data sharing, while ensuring the right safeguards and controls are in place. It does so by:

  • reducing the time required for multiple legal negotiations and sign-offs
  • providing Secretary-level/ head-of-agency authorisation signalling the importance of sharing data
  • having a common risk framework to ensure key issues are considered and appropriate controls put into place
  • operationalising the VPS Data Sharing Policy by promoting the clear responsibility to share data to inform policy making, service planning or delivery in the public interest.

Signed Heads of Agreement

The Heads of Agreement provides general terms and conditions for data-sharing signed by all Departmental Secretaries, the Victoria Police Chief Commissioner and any VPS additional parties.

Victorian Public Sector Data Sharing Heads of Agreement - as at 19 August 2022
PDF 2.08 MB
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A current list of all parties is provided below.

Party to the Agreement Date signed
Department of Premier and Cabinet 21 Jul 2021
Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 24 Jul 2021
Department of Health 27 Jul 2021
Department of Education and Training 27 Jul 2021
Victoria Police 28 Jul 2021
Department of Justice and Community Safety 29 Jul 2021
Department of Treasury and Finance 30 Jul 2021
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing 9 Aug 2021
Department of Transport 12 Aug 2021
Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions 16 Aug 2021
Ambulance Victoria 23 Dec 2021
Visit Victoria 8 Mar 2022
Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority 19 Aug 2022

How to use the Heads of Agreement

Staff of any Victorian Government department and Victoria Police can use the DSHA for their specific data sharing arrangement, as long as it is for the purpose of informing policy making, service planning or delivery. While the Heads of Agreement sets out agreed general terms and conditions for data sharing, data providers and data users still have flexibility to specify terms relevant to their circumstances in annexures to the agreement.

Use the following template annexures to formalise the terms of your specific data sharing arrangement:

VPS Data Sharing Heads of Agreement - Template annexures - Version 3.1 - December 2022
Word 121.15 KB
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Once you have finalised the annexures, keep a signed copy as well as the formal communication exchanging the final agreement between the parties for your records. Please also provide a copy to VCDI so we can keep a central register of agreements.

Need help?

If you have any specific implementation questions, read this guidance.

VPS Data Sharing Heads of Agreement - Guidance note - Version 2 December 2022
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If you have any further questions, please direct queries to data.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au.

If you are part of a Victorian Government agency that is not a signatory to the Heads of Agreement, you can still choose to become part of this framework. Contact us at data.insights@dpc.vic.gov.au for more information.

The Office of the Victorian Information Commission (OVIC) and Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC) can also assist with issues concerning personal information and health information respectively. OVIC has issued Guidance for Sharing Personal Information, and there are links to further related information at the start of the Heads of Agreement and in the Annexure template. The Commonwealth also has helpful online resources, including information about Sharing Data Safely.

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