Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what specific mechanisms exist within the NHS Federated Data Platform contract to hold Palantir accountable for accessing identifiable patient records; and why government compliance systems failed to enforce the promised boundaries between external corporate contractors and the new single patient record environment.

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 the benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the NHS.UK website.

To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP

NHS England’s contract for the NHS FDP includes clear data protection, confidentiality, and security requirements. These contract terms are based on Government Legal Department model terms and conditions, which provide robust provisions on data processing, including the enforcement of United Kingdom data protection laws and regulations. Suppliers such as Palantir Technologies UK Ltd act solely as data processors under NHS England’s instructions. Access to patient data is governed by contractual controls alongside technical safeguards, including role‑based access, approval processes, audit logging, and monitoring.

NHS England has acknowledged that elements of the published National Data Integration Tenant Data Protection Impact Assessment did not fully reflect these operational arrangements, including wording that referred to NHS staff rather than authorised users and support staff more broadly.

The Single Patient Record is a separate programme to the NHS FDP and still being designed. No decisions have been made as to how it will be delivered, or which suppliers will be involved.