Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether contacts between Palantir and (a) Cambridge Analytica and (b) foreign national security organisations will be considered in future procurement opportunities for that company in relation to contracts that require handling of sensitive data and information.

UK public procurement is regulated by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and public procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project.

Public sector procurers are required by law to assess the most economically advantageous tender from the perspective of the contracting authority, using criteria linked to the subject matter of the contract, including compliance with the published specification for all contracts.

Security implications are considered in detail on a case-by-case basis by commercial teams, and security clauses and schedules are included in government contracts, where necessary.

Public bodies must also comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 when letting contracts involving personal data, including adequacy for the purposes of off-shoring, where relevant.