Palantir: Public Service Contracts

Lord Gove Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a really important point. Many people across this Chamber will know that the responsibility of government requires difficult decisions to be made. As my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti has rightly raised, there are sometimes difficult decisions and difficult dilemmas to be resolved. Alongside that—my noble friend asked about defence—we have a responsibility to ensure that with the AI capability and the data management capability, we can take forward our strategic defence review and can give our Armed Forces and those who work with them the best possible tools to ensure that we deliver the objectives of His Majesty’s Government. That is what we seek to do, while recognising the moral responsibilities we also have.

[Lord Gove (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful, as ever, to the Minister for his lucid and authoritative response. When I was a Minister, I saw how Palantir’s technology helped to save lives in the NHS. I saw how Palantir helped to ensure that those fleeing persecution from the Ukraine war could have a safe home in this country. I also appreciate that Palantir is playing a role in defending democracy, not just in the Middle East but in Ukraine. Is it therefore not a matter of regret to the Minister, as it is to me, that the Mayor of London has specifically ruled out Palantir helping to fight crime on the streets of London when the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has made clear that, as a result of the Mayor of London’s decision, our citizens will be less safe?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

My understanding is that the mayor and the commissioner have now reached an arrangement with respect to the activity of Palantir within the Metropolitan Police, where there will be a 12-month period to establish a proof of concept as to whether Palantir can move forward. The mayor and the Metropolitan Police commissioner have agreed that because, as the noble Lord says, the commissioner believes it will help fight crime. It is a matter for them to resolve that, but it seems they have found a way in which both are happy to try to take it forward.

I do not want to underestimate the moral questions that Governments sometimes have to answer. The noble Lord knows the issue of education particularly well, but let us look at the issue with respect to health: 41 ICBs and 171 trusts have signed up to use the NHS federated data platform; more than 100,000 extra patients have been seen; hundreds of thousands of patients have been safely removed from the waiting list; and nearly 94,000 patients have been supported on their cancer journey. That is the sort of dilemma that Governments need to resolve to try to find the best way forward.