Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England about access to identifiable patient data within the National Data Integration Tenant for (a) Palantir staff and (b) other external contractors.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need it most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, and the Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.
Officials have been discussing with NHS England the arrangements in place for access to identifiable patient information for the purposes of responding to parliamentary questions and recent media enquiries.
The National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) is a secure platform for collecting and managing national health and care data. It replaces multiple legacy systems with one unified, secure process, reducing burden for NHS teams while ensuring the right data is available at the right time to support faster decisions and safer care. Data is pseudonymised using Privacy Enhancing Technologies and then routed to the national NHS FDP where it is used for analysis, insights, and decision-making.
All access is governed by strong safeguards including encryption, role based access controls, and comprehensive audit trails. The suppliers of the NHS FDP and NDIT will only operate under limited project-based access under the instruction of NHS England. Individual access is strictly role based, depending on project, and is time limited. The NDIT and NHS FDP contracts have strict stipulations about confidentiality, and there is governance in place to monitor delivery and usage.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to UIN 114047 on Prescription Drugs: Cost Effectiveness answered on 4 March 2026, if he will provide a copy of the a) impact assessment and b) details of modelling for changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence cost-effectiveness threshold to the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to provide an impact assessment or details of the modelling in relation to changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s cost-effectiveness threshold to the Health and Social Care Select Committee. Information included in the impact assessment is commercially sensitive.
The United Kingdom and United States’ pharmaceutical arrangement is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our National Health Service and world leading life sciences sector.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the development of the next national Autism Strategy is aligned with (a) the Department for Education’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) reforms, (b) the Department for Work and Pensions’ Young People and Work Review, and (c) the Department of Health and Social Care’s independent review into the prevalence and diagnosis of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.
We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.
We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the development of the next national Autism Strategy is co-produced with autistic people and their families.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.
We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.
We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeline is for publishing a new national Autism Strategy.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.
We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.
We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how responsibility for delivering the next national Autism Strategy will be coordinated across the Department for a) Education, b) Health and Social Care) Work and Pensions d) other Government Departments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.
We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.
We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.
Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics will be used to assess whether the next national Autism Strategy improves outcomes for autistic people across a) education b) health and c) employment.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
The Autism Act 2009 places a duty on my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to consult on, publish, and keep under review a national strategy for meeting the needs of autistic adults in England. My Rt Hon. Friend may choose to revise the strategy, and if so, must publish it as revised.
We are committed to publishing a new cross-Government autism strategy. The current strategy will remain in effect until a revised strategy is published. We are carefully considering our approach to developing a new autism strategy, including our plans to work with other Government departments and engage with stakeholders, including autistic people and their families, and will set out a position in due course.
We recognise that a large amount of evidence was gathered by the House of Lords Autism Act 2009 Inquiry Committee and we will consider this evidence, along with evidence from other government and independent reviews, papers, and reports. We recognise that meaningful engagement takes time, so a balance will need to be struck on the extent of the further engagement required.