Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure that patients can access audit logs of who has accessed their health records across (a) GP Connect, (b) the Summary Care Record and (c) other existing systems before the implementation of the proposed Single Patient Record.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients can make a request to the relevant organisation, such as their general practice or hospital, to see who has accessed their information in existing systems.
Audit logs will be a key safeguard for the Single Patient Record, helping to show who has accessed patient information and whether that access was appropriate. The detailed audit log arrangements are being developed as part of the technical design work and have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the proposed Single Patient Record will have audit trails that are directly accessible to patients as a matter of course.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients can make a request to the relevant organisation, such as their general practice or hospital, to see who has accessed their information in existing systems.
Audit logs will be a key safeguard for the Single Patient Record, helping to show who has accessed patient information and whether that access was appropriate. The detailed audit log arrangements are being developed as part of the technical design work and have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the North West maternity trial of the Single Patient Record, referred to in the Health Bill Committee on 16 June 2026, is being delivered through the Federated Data Platform; and what role (a) Palantir technologies and (b) the NHS AI Platform play in that programme.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Single Patient Record (SPR) and the NHS Federated Data Platform are separate programmes. The North West maternity work is at an early stage, and no final decisions have been made on the technical approach or delivery partners. NHS England will continue to consider how SPR aligns with existing National Health Service digital and data infrastructure, subject to appropriate safeguards, governance, and data protection requirements.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what demonstrations of (a) the maternity Single Patient Record system and (b) any tools used to (i) summarise patient data and (ii) construct clinical timelines have been provided to witnesses giving evidence to the Health Bill Committee; and whether those demonstrations were conducted using (A) the Federated Data Platform and (B) associated AI systems.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has demonstrated an early prototype relating to the maternity element of the Single Patient Record (SPR). This was used to support user research and discussion about how maternity information could be presented to clinicians in future. The prototype was not a demonstration of a live maternity SPR system and was not connected to live National Health Service systems or live patient data.
The prototype showed an illustrative clinician-facing view using illustrative data. It was intended to demonstrate potential user experience concepts, including how relevant information might be grouped in a clinical summary or presented in a timeline-style view. It did not process live patient information, generate clinical summaries from patient records, or construct clinical timelines from operational systems.
The prototype did not use the NHS Federated Data Platform or associated artificial intelligence systems to summarise patient data or construct clinical timelines.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Joint Data Policy Unit was informed of routine data access arrangements operating within the National Data Integration Tenant of the NHS Federated Data Platform prior to May 2026.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As at end May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
The Joint Digital Policy Unit of NHS England and the Department was not informed of routine data access arrangements in the National Data Integration Tenant prior to May 2026.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish an updated version of the response to FOI-2604-2319602.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England advised that it responded on 8 June 2026 to the Freedom of Information (FOI) request referred to by the Hon. Member. Under FOI, updated responses for a more current time period are not routinely issued. The requester would need to submit a new request for information for the new timeframe required directly to NHS England through the usual process.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will a list of all external contractor personnel granted elevated or “administrative-level” access within the NHS Federated Data Platform, including (a) the supplier organisation; (b) the role or function of the individual; (c) the date such access was first granted; (d) the duration of access (including whether ongoing); (e) the nature and scope of administrative permissions held; and (f) whether such access has permitted interaction with identifiable patient data, whether directly or incidentally.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need it most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
NHS England does not publish personal details on individual personnel, their roles, or specific access permissions to its data platforms.
There are currently three contractors with elevated administrative permissions within the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) Platform and three contractors within the national instance of the NHS FDP with elevated administrative permissions. This total has been limited to three or four external contractors historically and all actions are logged and are auditable. The external contractors are provided under the NHS Federated Data Platform and Associated Services Contract by Palantir UK and are subject to Government security clearance and approval by a member of NHS England staff at Director level or above.
Robust safeguards are in place governing access to data within the NHS FDP and NDIT. Access by external supplier personnel is strictly controlled, is subject to contractual obligations and time-limited controls and is governed by NHS England security policies and United Kingdom data protection law.
Access to the platform for any user, including administrative access, is granted only where necessary for defined roles, is approved through formal processes, and is subject to monitoring and audit in line with NHS England standards.
Administrative-level access to NDIT is required to enable core back-office platform activities. This includes managing permissions and access, controlling platform-wide settings, overseeing security and governance, configuring the platform experience, and creating and managing roles, as well as providing high-level governance and oversight. External suppliers act strictly as data processors under contract and are not permitted to access or use data for any purpose other than those specified by NHS England. All users are required to access only the minimum data necessary for their role.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will clarify whether Palantir Technologies holds intellectual property rights, licensing rights, or technical control over the NHS Federated Data Platform Canonical Data Model that could limit the NHS’s ability to use, modify, or reimplement that model independently of that third party.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palantir Technologies do not hold any intellectual property, licensing rights, or technical control over the NHS Canonical Data Model. The National Health Service retains full ownership and can use, modify, and reimplement the model independently of any supplier.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 reasons why the National Data Guardian was not informed that external contractor staff at Palantir would have access to identifiable patient information within the NHS Federated Data Platform’s National Data IntegrationTenant environment; and what discussions his Department will have with the National Data Guardian on this matter.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As of the end of May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.
The National Data Guardian (NDG) highlighted that the published Data Protection Impact Assessment for the National Data Integration Tenant (NDIT) was not fully reflective of current access arrangements, including limited administrative access by supplier staff. NHS England seeks to be transparent about how data is used within the NHS FDP and works collaboratively with the NDG, the Information Commissioner’s Office, and other partners to provide assurance and incorporate feedback.
Whilst there is no statutory requirement for NHS England to notify the NDG of specific access arrangements to the NDIT, NHS England engages regularly with the NDG through established governance routes as part of routine oversight of the NHS FDP Programme. This matter was discussed at the Data Transformation Check and Challenge Group, and the NDG subsequently wrote to NHS England and has received an update in response, which has been published at the following link:
An updated Privacy Notice has also been published and can be found at the following link:
NHS England acts as the data controller for the NHS FDP at the national level, including NDIT. NHS organisations using the platform act as data controllers for their own data and use of the system. Access to data is strictly controlled, and any access by external contractors is limited, role-based and time-bound, requires appropriate security clearance and senior approval, and is fully logged and auditable. Data remains under the control of NHS organisations, and suppliers act only under the instruction of those organisations.
NHS England and the Department will continue to engage with the NDG through established governance routes on this matter.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
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 undertake a public consultation prior to any decision to end, extend, renew, or expand the NHS Federated Data Platform contract in 2026.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care better to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation. Nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer. There has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need them most. NHS England publishes quarterly information on benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:
As of the end of May 2026, 170 trusts have signed up for the NHS FDP, including the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
NHS England will be reviewing the NHS FDP contract this year, in line with standard contract management processes, to inform a decision on whether to exercise the optional two-year extension.
There are no plans to undertake a public consultation in relation to the NHS FDP contract.
Public and patient involvement remains an important part of the NHS FDP programme. NHS England continues to seek views from both the public and a dedicated patient panel which contributes to the design and delivery of services. The programme also maintains ongoing engagement through established governance arrangements, including public involvement and transparency mechanisms, and regularly publishes information on the platform’s governance, uptake, and benefits.