Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role Senior Information Risk Owners and Caldicott Guardians play in overseeing data governance for the Federated Data Platform (FDP) within Integrated Care Boards and NHS trusts; and whether those roles are held by executive board members.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Every integrated care board and National Health Service trust board, who are data controllers for data held within their own individual instance of the NHS Federated Data Platform, has responsibility for data governance and managing risk.
Integrated care boards in the NHS are mandated to appoint both a senior information risk officer and a Caldicott Guardian. These roles are essential for ensuring compliance with patient data confidentiality, information governance, and the secure handling of information within the organisation.
Information on whether or not Caldicott Guardians are Executive Board members is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what metrics are being used to measure the success of the Palantir-powered Federated Data Platform (FDP); and whether any productivity gains or improvements to patient care have been attributed to the FDP thus far, as opposed to any other intervention.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During product development, the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) team identified relevant usage and benefits measures for each specific product. These measures are related to the problem statement the product was designed to address and are co-developed with users.
Once a product has completed development and testing and becomes generally available, data on the usage and benefits measures at an aggregate level, across all organisations nationally, are published on the NHS FDP website. Over time, further products will become generally available on the NHS FDP, supporting the National Health Service areas of elective care, urgent and emergency care, cancer and diagnostics, operational management, and population health and neighbourhood care.
Information on the benefits derived from the NHS FDP is published each quarter by NHS England and is available at the following link:
In addition to the quantitative benefits, information from organisations on the benefits they are seeing from the NHS FDP from a qualitative perspective is collected in the form of case studies available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/nhs-federated-data-platform/impact/case-studies/
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of concerns raised by the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee regarding the outsourcing of NHS data infrastructure to a single overseas technology provider; and what steps have been taken to mitigate systemic data security risks arising from that arrangement.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data infrastructure in the National Health Service is not outsourced to a single provider, as the NHS makes use of a variety of technology providers, including hyper-scalers. Contracts include specific provisions to ensure the security of personal data.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department carried out an equalities impact assessment of the Federated Data Platform (FDP) (a) prior to its rollout and (b) at any point since.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) is a data platform rather than a clinical service in itself. NHS England does not require an Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment (EHIA) by default for data platforms. As such, a determination was made in line with NHS England guidance that the NHS FDP did not meet the requirements for an EHIA.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to give a detailed description of how procurement of the contract for the Federated Data Platform (FDP), after the current contract ending date of 15/02/2027, will proceed, including timeline, whether the incumbent contract holder Palantir is considered to be a preferred bidder, whether the NHS has a break clause in this contract with Palantir, whether the NHS is able to renew the contract automatically without hearing any competing bids, and any other relevant information relating to the terms of the contract.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current contract for the NHS Federated Data Platform is for seven years, ending in 2030, with break clauses at three years, two years, and one year. No decisions have been made about any procurement after then end of the contract. The contact is published at the following link:
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Palantir’s role supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the US on the confidence of NHS patients to divulge medical information.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) holds no information on the immigration or residency status of patients. NHS England has published extensive information on the NHS FDP, its contractual safeguards, and how it is designed solely for medical purposes. There is a web portal where people can find out more information about the NHS FDP and ask questions.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of (a) the average outstanding student loan balance and (b) the proportion of borrowers currently making repayments in (i) Merseyside and (ii) the North West of England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The average outstanding student loan balance of borrowers in the North West government region who have been funded by Student Finance England was £37,000 (rounded to the nearest thousand) on 15 March 2025. This includes all loans, even those not yet liable to repay. The proportion of borrowers currently residing in the North West government region who have been funded by Student Finance England and made at least one repayment in this financial year is 46.8%.
The department does not hold student loan data for Merseyside specifically, as it is not a defined statistical geography in our datasets. Therefore, figures can only be provided at North West regional level.
Please note published national data provides the picture of borrowers’ repayment and employment status on 31 March 2025 and differs to the proportion who have made a repayment in the last year.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of borrowers on Plan 2 student loans whose outstanding balance is projected to increase for at least the first ten years of repayment due to interest accrual exceeding annual repayments.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold analysis of the proportion of borrowers whose loan is projected to increase in their first ten years of repayment.
Student loan repayments are linked to income, not to the amount borrowed or interest applied. As repayments remain income-contingent if a borrower’s salary remains the same, their monthly repayments will also stay the same. Repayments are made at a constant rate of 9% above the earnings threshold, and the 9% rate strikes a balance between affordability for graduates and fairness to taxpayers.
Outstanding debt, including interest built up, is cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants. This is a deliberate government investment in students and the economy.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of current levels of investment in wastewater infrastructure.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A record £104 billion of private sector investment has been secured to accelerate the cleaning up of our rivers, lakes and seas. This includes over £10 billion to improve nearly 2,500 storm overflows in England over the next five years. We will move to a system where assets are properly maintained and develop forward-looking asset health metrics to ensure this critical infrastructure gets the funding it needs.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help improve coordination between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate in regulating water and sewerage undertakers.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with the existing regulators, including Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, to strengthen coordination across the regulatory system. This includes supporting the regulators in their work to actively join up and improve coordination, championing a ‘one organisation’ approach on key areas of delivery ahead of establishment of the new single regulator. This will simplify the requirements of water companies, reduce duplication and deliver better regulation for improved outcomes across the entire water system.