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 Department has asked NHS England to review its use of the term "signed up" in reporting uptake of the Federated Data Platform, in circumstances where NHS organisations described as signed up are not actively using the platform.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors performance, costs, risks, and other factors in relation to all major contracts as part of its ongoing contract management processes, and reports on those issues in the normal way at appropriate milestones. We do not provide a running commentary outside of that 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, whether there are additional costs for the NHS FDP programme if the NHS increases the amount of data (a) processed and (b) stored.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors performance, costs, risks, and other factors in relation to all major contracts as part of its ongoing contract management processes, and reports on those issues in the normal way at appropriate milestones. We do not provide a running commentary outside of that 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, what the costs for the NHS Federated Data Platform will be after 7 years of the contract with Palantir.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors performance, costs, risks, and other factors in relation to all major contracts as part of its ongoing contract management processes, and reports on those issues in the normal way at appropriate milestones. We do not provide a running commentary outside of that 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, with reference to NHS England’s web publication NHS Federated Data Platform uptake and benefits, whether NHS England will publish uptake statistics that distinguish between hospitals that are (a) signed up but not actively using an FDP product, (b) actively using one FDP product and (c) actively using two or more FDP products.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors performance, costs, risks, and other factors in relation to all major contracts as part of its ongoing contract management processes, and reports on those issues in the normal way at appropriate milestones. We do not provide a running commentary outside of that 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, what estimate her Department has made of the amount of time required to port the Federated Data Platform from Palantir to another supplier.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department routinely monitors performance, costs, risks, and other factors in relation to all major contracts as part of its ongoing contract management processes, and reports on those issues in the normal way at appropriate milestones. We do not provide a running commentary outside of that 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, what assessment she has made of whether existing NHS workforce plans for England plans are sufficient to meet the objectives set out in the 10 Year Plan for England published in July 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to introduce a new 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan to complement the 10-Year Health Plan for England, and we will keep Parliament updated on the publication of that plan in the normal way.
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 NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for England published in June 2023 is still in operation.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to introduce a new 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan to complement the 10-Year Health Plan for England, and we will keep Parliament updated on the publication of that plan in the normal way.
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 workforce plan is currently in operation for the NHS in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to introduce a new 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan to complement the 10-Year Health Plan for England, and we will keep Parliament updated on the publication of that plan in the normal way.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether his Department operates a software asset management system to maintain a central record of its software licences; and when his Department last completed a review of its software estate to identify dependencies and redundancies.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
The Department does not currently operate a dedicated Software Asset Management (SAM) system that maintains a single, central record of all software licences across its estate.
The Department most recently conducted a review of its software estate in 2025 through an application portfolio exercise, which consolidated data from multiple sources to improve understanding of software and applications in use across the Department. As part of a broader technology improvement programme, the department aims to have all software assets catalogued, mapped and proactively managed by the end of 2027.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to ensure that future digital inclusion programmes are not dependent on software licences from a single provider.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Everyone in every community should benefit from technology, including access to appropriate software that meets individual needs.
People need high-quality devices with compatible, up to date software, to maximise their use. Through the IT Reuse for Good Charter, and government pilot, our delivery partners refurbished devices with software suited to the recipient’s needs. For future programmes, we are exploring how software provision can be made more sustainable, accessible, and suitable for individual needs.