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 NHS England is taking to verify that derivative analytical outputs from the NHS Federated Digital Platform cannot be reverse‑engineered to reveal identifiable patient data.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All analytics products created by NHS England, including those developed on the NHS Federated Data Platform, are subject to a full Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA) as part of the design and development process, with further information available at the following link:
All data used by the NHS Federated Data Platform integrates with advanced Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET). This has been procured from a separate supplier to ensure independence and to mitigate any potential conflicts of interest. This technology ensures that data is processed in a secure and privacy-preserving manner.
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 potential impact of Palantir's involvement on the NHS model of being free at the point of use.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The provision by Palantir Industries of the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) has no impact on National Health Service care being free at the point of use.
Palantir is a technology supplier providing the underlying technology that supports the FDP. They do not influence NHS policy, funding models, or decisions about access to care. Their role is limited to delivering technical services under the direction and control of the NHS.
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 patients who are data controllers under the national data opt‑out can (a) review and (b) challenge how their records are processed within the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Federated Data Platform fully complies with the National Data Opt-Out policy. Confidential patient information is not used in the national instance, and only in a local instance for the purposes of direct care, and therefore the National Data Opt-Out does not apply.
If this changes in the future, because a new product processes confidential patient information for a purpose other than direct care, the process for managing the opt out is laid out in the FDP Information Governance Framework, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/federated-data-platform-information-governance-framework/
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 milestones are included in the Federated Data Platform contract to (a) facilitate orderly off‑boarding and (b) data migration to an alternative provider.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform Associated Services (FDP-AS) agreement has a comprehensive Exit Management Schedule which sets out the contract terms for exit, including the requirements on Palantir to support in re-procurement planning, exit, and transition assistance which would facilitate the migration to a future solution/state. Data migration is in the scope of the Exit Management provisions.
The terms of the FDP-AS agreement, within the context of the potential total contract duration, sets out the timeframes and periods of assistance that NHS England may utilise to facilitate exit and migration.
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 patients will be consulted on changes to purpose‑based access policies during the contract with Palantir.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is committed to maintaining public trust and transparency in the use of patient data and to ensuring that patients and the public are informed and engaged in decisions that affect how their data is used. This aligns with NHS England’s broader commitment to working in partnership with people and communities.
The Federated Data Platform uses a Purpose-Based Access Control model. This ensures that access to data is strictly governed by the specific purposes approved by NHS England.
Any change to the approved use cases, or new use cases, will require further engagement with patients and stakeholder advisory groups, including the Specialist Information Governance Advisory Group, and approval from the Data Governance Group. This engagement would be prior to, and inform any changes to, purpose-based access policies.
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 NHS‑funded analytics solutions created on the Federated Data Platform have been (a) patented and (b) registered by (i) Palantir Technologies and (ii) its subsidiaries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Within the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), where the National Health Service commissions and funds the development of solutions, the intellectual property of these solutions remains with the NHS.
Under the FDP-Associated Services Agreement between NHS England and Palantir, background intellectual property, prior to entering into the agreement, remains the property of the respective party.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney, representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to support the work of the House of Commons Table Office; and what assessment the Commission has made of the contribution of that Office in supporting hon. Members with parliamentary questions.
Answered by Nick Smith
In addition to producing the Order Paper each day and receiving applications for adjournment debates in the House and Westminster Hall, since the beginning of this Parliament, the Table Office has processed nearly 74,000 Questions for Written Answer and over 1,600 Early Day Motions. The Office also carries out the daily “shuffle” for oral questions, and provides the secretariat to the Backbench Business Committee.
The Office is staffed by a team of 16 people, ten of whom process parliamentary questions as part of their wider duties, working on a rota system to provide continuous cover when the House is sitting.
The work of the Office has recently been improved by enhancements to the back end of the MemberHub system, making it easier to find similar or duplicate questions. Further enhancements to the Office’s digital platforms will be delivered later in the year.
Members are required to take responsibility for Questions tabled and I would encourage colleagues to visit the Lower Table Office, directly outside the Chamber, to discuss any queries.
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 contracts their Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Details of Government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform’s Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that public services do not use non-disclosure agreements on whistleblowers.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are existing legal limitations to what NDAs can be used for, and an NDA would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from making a protected disclosure, i.e., whistleblowing.
However, we have heard calls for change and taken action. We have tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill which will further limit the use of NDAs by voiding NDAs between employers and workers that prevent a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment and discrimination in the workplace. This will give millions of workers confidence that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace will not be hidden.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contracts their Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Details of all Home Office contracts above the minimum threshold are routinely published on the Contract Finder website.