NHS Federated Data Platform Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Dawn Butler
Main Page: Dawn Butler (Labour - Brent East)Department Debates - View all Dawn Butler's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Dawn Butler (Brent East) (Lab)
It is wonderful to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain.
The reality is that the Government have inherited a mess. We must not take responsibility for that mess. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) on securing the debate; he mentioned the £1 that Palantir paid to get its foot in the door. Some might say that was a smart business move; others might say that was a con or a trap. The first responsibility of a Government is to ensure that they protect their citizens. In order to do that, we must have AI and data sovereignty. We must ask ourselves: does Palantir allow us to have that AI and data sovereignty? I think the answer to that is no.
We have too much reliance on US systems. I was in hospital just the other week and the system is designed for the US, so that QR codes can be scanned at every action, because in America patients have to pay for everything, from blood tests to anything else. We do not have to deal with that, because luckily we have the NHS.
To say that we cannot do better in the UK just is not true. Unison and the BMA have severe concerns about Palantir, and they have said that they would like the Government to have a system that is based on ethics and values. That should be our starting point—a system of ethics and values. There are better alternatives and it is untrue to say that there are not. The BMA and Unison briefing talks about local platforms that already exceed FDP capability. For example, OpenSAFELY, developed at the University of Oxford, is an open source, privacy-preserving platform that has supported more than 200 NHS research projects.
The reality is that 30 people decided on the contract. Unison represents 1.3 million public service workers, and the BMA represents all doctors. They all have concerns. The Government need to cut loose the relationship with Palantir and have a transparent review that includes workers, trade unions and the public.