Health Bill

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 11th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am most grateful to noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. As before, I will focus on the amendments before us. I start with the future of the NHS federated data platform and the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, who spoke to his Amendments 158, 159 and 172E, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, who spoke to her Amendment 172B.

As I hope noble Lords will agree, decisions about public contracts must be made through fair, open and non-discriminatory processes, which is the point the noble Lord, Lord Kamall, was making. This is governed by UK procurement law and it ensures we get the best outcomes and solutions for the National Health Service. NHS England is reviewing the contract to determine whether it should continue, subject to standard contract management processes and government approvals. This process remains ongoing and decisions will be announced formally.

I can assure your Lordships’ House that the FDP operates under the direction of the NHS and each trust and ICB that has signed up uses it as it sees fit. Furthermore, Article 25 of the UK GDPR, which requires organisations to include data protection by design and default, already applies to the FDP. Were data to be anonymised as Amendment 158 proposes, it would prevent the delivery of national services such as national vaccination and screening, and key activity supporting the management, operation and provision of national health services.

I feel it would be helpful to set out the potential implications of Amendment 172B. When it was tabled, the usual channels received advice from the House authorities that the amendment would, in their view, risk making the Bill hybrid as it seeks to put in the Bill that the contract of one specific company is not extended. If the Bill is hybridised through amendment, those affected will have the opportunity to petition, after which the Bill will be referred to a Select Committee.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

Can the Minister confirm the date when the decision will be announced on whether or not there will be retendering of that FDP Foundry contract?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am not able to confirm the exact date, but I can say, as I said earlier, that the decision will be announced formally, so noble Lords will be made aware.

On the questions of security, resilience and sovereign capability, as raised in Amendments 53, 171 and 289 by the noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, the Government share his determination to protect patient data and to support the strong UK digital health market. However, I am not able to commit to an NHS digital sovereignty strategy, nor additional legislation. Supply risk is not determined by nationality or jurisdiction alone. What matters is the data involved, who can access it, the supplies controls and the contractual protections in place. We already have robust safeguards. The Procurement Act 2023, about which much has been spoken, provides powers to exclude suppliers where appropriate, including on national security grounds. It also provides for setting data protection and cyber security requirements.

I note specifically the noble Lord’s concerns about the procurement of the single patient record, and I am looking forward to a more focused discussion, as I know all noble Lords are, on the SPR at a later Committee stage. I can confirm now that the procurement will have to ensure the resilience of our systems, how we keep within the UK jurisdiction and that the data remains under NHS control. The noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, raised concerns that foreign laws could require an overseas supplier to give access to NHS data. We take that risk extremely seriously and aim to ensure that the legal, contractual and cyber-security safeguards are in place to avoid this.

I fully endorse encouraging domestic innovation, as I hope noble Lords are aware. As the Chancellor set out in the recent Budget, the Government will use public procurement strategically to back British firms to strengthen domestic capability and to build resilience in key supply chains. We will continue to promote international investment and trade and to open opportunities for British businesses at home and in markets around the world.

The noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, indicated her agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Tarassenko, in this area. The points on sovereign data being an asset will come back in the group beginning with Amendment 142, and again I look forward to debating that. We want a vibrant UK market for tech, and practical action is already under way. NHS England is engaging industry ahead of procurements, structuring opportunities to increase SME participation, and using social value to support good jobs and skills, which we all want to see.

I turn to Amendment 279A, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Austin. He too raises the important question of accountability within this amendment, and we agree that contracting authorities should be accountable to the objectives of the Procurement Act, which already apply directly to covered procurement. The Act also provides transparency and oversight mechanisms, including powers to investigate compliance. The Procurement Act 2023 already requires publication of contract details for contracts worth over £5 million and, where applicable, key performance indicators and annual assessments of supplier performance against them. This makes a further NHS-specific annual reporting duty unnecessary in our view. For medtech, our value-based procurement approach further supports decisions focused on patient outcomes, total care costs, and longer-term value.

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I hope I have been able to set out to noble Lords how we share the objectives behind many of these amendments: protecting NHS data, supporting UK capability and securing the best outcome for patients and taxpayers. However, as I have explained, where we do not agree is that further legislation is needed.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

The Minister mentioned existing procurement rules, and she gave a partial nod to my Amendments 144, 147 and 160, but said it was not always desirable for all those elements to be observed. Perhaps she could write and say which bits of those amendments—which are quite technical, I admit, dealing with interoperability, data connectors and the prevention of supplier lock-in—she means. It would be helpful if she could write and explain how the procurement rules that she prays in aid achieve some of those objectives.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I will be pleased to do so and thank the noble Lord.