Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has consulted UK defence and intelligence agencies on awarding NHS data platform contracts to foreign-owned companies with defence-sector operations.

NHS England conducted an independent and transparent procurement exercise in full compliance with public contract regulations. The selection of the preferred supplier was not determined by a single individual but was the result of a rigorous assessment process involving multiple stakeholders.

Consulting the United Kingdom’s defence and intelligence agencies before awarding data contracts is not a usual part of NHS England’s procurement process. NHS England did work with the National Cyber Security Centre for this procurement.

In accordance with procurement regulations, NHS England cannot exclude any legally established and eligible supplier from participating in the bidding process.