NHS Federated Data Platform Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Jeremy Corbyn
Main Page: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)Department Debates - View all Jeremy Corbyn's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(1 day, 15 hours ago)
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Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)
It is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) on securing it and on his excellent speech.
Palantir received a massive contract from the UK Government, apparently starting in about 2019. Some may recall that during that general election campaign, I accused the Government of undertaking secret negotiations with US health providers to take over our NHS. What was the response of our media? That I was peddling Russian propaganda. They refused to engage in a serious debate about the way in which US companies were trying to undermine not just the NHS but our public services as a whole. Palantir already has a £330 million contract with the NHS and is trying to get its hands on much more. It is hopefully under threat in many other countries where it is trying to operate, such as Germany, where human rights organisations are pressurising it because of its behaviour and attitudes.
This company is getting its clutches into our NHS, and it appears to be pressurising every local hospital and NHS trust to join the Palantir system. My local hospital, Whittington hospital, so far is not part of that system and says it does not wish to be part of it, as have many others, but we need a clear steer from the Government. I do not blame the Government for the contract—they did not sign it; they inherited it. But they have the opportunity now to say that they will end it when the opportunity arises, which is less than 18 months away, and that they will use the interim period to develop a publicly owned, accountable system in our NHS.
We should be very proud of our NHS. It is universal, and Palantir is in danger of getting its hands on the personal health records of every single person who has lived or died since 1948, which it can use for research purposes. Since it is a conglomerate that covers all kinds of other services and was involved in the war in Gaza and the attacks on the Palestinian people, surely it is time, as the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) said, for us as a Parliament to challenge the Government on this and say: get this contract out of our NHS, and bring it back into public hands.