diff --git a/pkg/api/response/response.go b/pkg/api/response/response.go
index 604a84dd6da..744a8f0ab45 100644
--- a/pkg/api/response/response.go
+++ b/pkg/api/response/response.go
@@ -239,6 +239,22 @@ func Err(err error) *NormalResponse {
 	return resp
 }
 
+// ErrOrFallback uses the information in an errutil.Error if available
+// and otherwise falls back to the status and message provided as
+// arguments.
+//
+// The signature is equivalent to that of Error which allows us to
+// rename this to Error when we're confident that that would be safe to
+// do.
+func ErrOrFallback(status int, message string, err error) *NormalResponse {
+	grafanaErr := &errutil.Error{}
+	if errors.As(err, grafanaErr) {
+		return Err(err)
+	}
+
+	return Error(status, message, err)
+}
+
 // Empty creates an empty NormalResponse.
 func Empty(status int) *NormalResponse {
 	return Respond(status, nil)
diff --git a/pkg/api/response/response_test.go b/pkg/api/response/response_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..67658cb497a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/api/response/response_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+package response
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"net/http"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/util/errutil"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestErrors(t *testing.T) {
+	const fakeNotFoundMessage = "I looked, but did not find the thing"
+	const genericErrorMessage = "Something went wrong in parsing the request"
+
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+
+		// inputs
+		err        error
+		statusCode int
+		message    string
+
+		// responses
+		legacyResponse *NormalResponse
+		newResponse    *NormalResponse
+		fallbackUseNew bool
+		compareErr     bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "base case",
+
+			legacyResponse: &NormalResponse{},
+			newResponse: &NormalResponse{
+				status: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "not found error",
+
+			err:        errors.New("not found"),
+			statusCode: http.StatusNotFound,
+			message:    fakeNotFoundMessage,
+
+			legacyResponse: &NormalResponse{
+				status:     http.StatusNotFound,
+				errMessage: fakeNotFoundMessage,
+			},
+			newResponse: &NormalResponse{
+				status: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "grafana error with fallback to other error",
+
+			err:        errutil.NewBase(errutil.StatusTimeout, "thing.timeout").Errorf("whoops"),
+			statusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
+			message:    genericErrorMessage,
+
+			legacyResponse: &NormalResponse{
+				status:     http.StatusBadRequest,
+				errMessage: genericErrorMessage,
+			},
+			newResponse: &NormalResponse{
+				status:     http.StatusGatewayTimeout,
+				errMessage: errutil.StatusTimeout.String(),
+			},
+			fallbackUseNew: true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	compareResponses := func(expected *NormalResponse, actual *NormalResponse, compareErr bool) func(t *testing.T) {
+		return func(t *testing.T) {
+			if expected == nil {
+				require.Nil(t, actual)
+				return
+			}
+
+			require.NotNil(t, actual)
+			assert.Equal(t, expected.status, actual.status)
+			if expected.body != nil {
+				assert.Equal(t, expected.body.Bytes(), actual.body.Bytes())
+			}
+			if expected.header != nil {
+				assert.EqualValues(t, expected.header, actual.header)
+			}
+			assert.Equal(t, expected.errMessage, actual.errMessage)
+			if compareErr {
+				assert.ErrorIs(t, expected.err, actual.err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		tc := tc
+		t.Run(
+			tc.name+" Error",
+			compareResponses(tc.legacyResponse, Error(
+				tc.statusCode,
+				tc.message,
+				tc.err,
+			), tc.compareErr),
+		)
+
+		t.Run(
+			tc.name+" Err",
+			compareResponses(tc.newResponse, Err(
+				tc.err,
+			), tc.compareErr),
+		)
+
+		fallbackResponse := tc.legacyResponse
+		if tc.fallbackUseNew {
+			fallbackResponse = tc.newResponse
+		}
+		t.Run(
+			tc.name+" ErrOrFallback",
+			compareResponses(fallbackResponse, ErrOrFallback(
+				tc.statusCode,
+				tc.message,
+				tc.err,
+			), tc.compareErr),
+		)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/util/errutil/status.go b/pkg/util/errutil/status.go
index 379c23e54c3..a1d02f2eae1 100644
--- a/pkg/util/errutil/status.go
+++ b/pkg/util/errutil/status.go
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ func (s CoreStatus) LogLevel() LogLevel {
 	}
 }
 
+func (s CoreStatus) String() string {
+	return string(s)
+}
+
 // ProxyStatus implies that an error originated from the data source
 // proxy.
 type ProxyStatus CoreStatus