Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent conversations he has had with the Indian Government on the release of Jagtar Singh Johal from detention.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We remain committed to pushing the Government of India for faster progress in resolving Jagtar Singh Johal's case. The UK Government has raised Mr Johal's case on multiple occasions with the Government of India, including regarding Mr Johal's allegations of torture. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr Johal's case with her Indian counterpart on 11 November, and the Prime Minister raised Mr Johal's case with Prime Minister Modi on 9 October. Consular staff regularly visit Mr Johal to check on his welfare, most recently on 21 November.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when her Department will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley dated 1 October 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I apologise to the Hon member for the delay. I can confirm that a response will be returned in the coming days.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley dated 17 September 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I replied to the Hon. Member’s correspondence on 19 November.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
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 potential alternative suppliers to Palantir for the Federated Data Platform contract; and whether that assessment included consideration of levels of alignment with NHS principles of (a) universality, (b) transparency and (c) patient trust.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations.
The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements.
The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian.
Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England.
Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.
Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data.
The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what safeguards are in place to ensure that patient data managed by Palantir under the Federated Data Platform contract cannot be (a) accessed, (b) used and (c) transferred for purposes unrelated to NHS (i) care and (ii) administration.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations.
The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements.
The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian.
Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England.
Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.
Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data.
The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consultation NHS England carried out with (a) patients, (b) healthcare staff and (c) data governance experts prior to awarding the Federated Data Platform contract to Palantir.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations.
The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements.
The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian.
Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England.
Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.
Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data.
The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The previous Minister for Pensions met with representatives from the WASPI campaign group.
She did so to hear their experiences directly and was the first Minister to do so in eight years.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to introduce (a) fiscal and (b) regulatory measures to mitigate the potential impact of the adoption of AI on employment.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is implementing all the recommendations from the AI Opportunities Action Plan to ensure we shape AI to deliver productivity gains, rising living standards, and improved worker wellbeing, while mitigating the risks.
By becoming the best place in Europe to start and grow a tech company—powered by our leadership in AI—we are unlocking new opportunities for innovation, investment, and workforce development. This means helping people build world-class skills and rewarding careers in a thriving, future-facing economy.
As part of this, we have secured a partnership with leading tech firms to deliver AI skills training to 7.5 million UK workers by 2030, to help workers transition into new roles created by AI and automation.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of placing (a) transparency, (b) testing and (c) accountability requirements on private defence contracts for the development of AI systems.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The principal policy framework governing the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) safe and responsible adoption of AI is our published Joint Service Publication Dependable AI JSP 936 which sets out directives on AI safety, ethics, and governance. JSP 936 requires that externally acquired AI systems meet the same standards and give the same level of assurance as AI systems developed within the MOD. Under this framework, and in line with the National Security Strategy, we will look to leverage the UK's vibrant third-party assurance market to enable breadth, scale, and learning from other sectors.
Asked by: Iqbal Mohamed (Independent - Dewsbury and Batley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what ethical frameworks are in place to guide the (a) development and (b) deployment of AI technologies in defence.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We have a duty to use the best technologies to protect the UK’s interests, and we also have a duty to use these technologies in line with our legal obligations and the values of the public we serve.
All development and deployment of AI in Defence must be legal and responsible. We have set out our Responsible AI policy framework in the Dependable AI JSP 936. This mandates that all AI use cases address specific AI safety, ethical and legal considerations, in line with our five AI ethical principles published in the ‘Ambitious, Safe, Responsible’ policy paper in June 2022.