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.
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:
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.
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.
Updated