Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much their Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All business units within the Department have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.
Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis and are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many nurses (a) are only employed on permanent contracts, (b) work both on a permanent contract and bank shifts and (c) only work bank shifts, as of 13 June 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Local Government Association and (b) Council leaders on Unite the Union's pay dispute for health and social care workers.
Answered by Will Quince
No such discussions have been held.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with NHS data staff on potential concerns on contracting Palantir to build the health service operating system.
Answered by Will Quince
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has not discussed with National Health Service staff any concerns they may have in relation to any potential contracting by NHS England with any potential supplier.
Any NHS data services that require a supplier contract will be procured via a compliant contracting mechanism and this will follow the standard processes for assurance and approval. The Department will perform the appropriate role as part of these standard approval processes. NHS England has not made any request to Palantir for them to build the health service operating system. NHS England is currently out to ITCD for a Federated Data Platform for the NHS, however, we would not define this as an operating system.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has discussions with relevant stakeholders on the extension of the NHS contract with Palantir in 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
All NHS England contracts follow standard processes for assurance and approval. The Department undertook the appropriate role as part of these standard approval processes that were in place at the time. There were no specific, planned discussions about the extension of the contract by NHS England in 2021.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the performance of Palantir in fulfilling its contract.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England can confirm that throughout its delivery, Palantir has met its obligations as set out within the terms of its contracts.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contracts and for what services his Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any current contract with Palantir.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many officials have responsibility for monitoring the value for money of his Department's contract with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any contract with Palantir to monitor. NHS England has responsibility for monitoring its contracts with Palantir.
NHS England manages the Palantir contract in line with the contract management framework to ensure value for money. NHS England has identified a Senior Responsible Officer, Contract Manager, Project Owner, Senior Supplier Relationship Manager, Benefits Manager, Exit Manager and Commercial Manager to the contract. A programme delivery team is also in place with benefits management and value for money processes and governance embedded into the working practices of the team.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) extend and (b) undertake a consultation on the potential extension of its contract with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any contract with Palantir. NHS England has a current contract in place with Palantir, to provide Data Platform Services in support of COVID-19 recovery, which is published on Contracts Finder. NHS England has always used compliant contracting mechanisms when contracting Palantir and does not have a requirement to consult other than following the standard processes for assurance and approval. The Department will perform the appropriate role as part of these standard approval processes.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
There was no first class train travel by Departmental Ministers in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Expenditure on Ministerial commercial travel is published quarterly on GOV.UK, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications#2022
The following table shows the cost of first class train travel taken by civil servants in each year since 2020.
2020 | £12,135.40 |
2021 | £5,464.55 |
2022 | £4,031.50 |
Total | £21,631.45 |