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 he is taking to ensure that the NHS (a) retains the intellectual property in relation to the technical sovereignty for and (b) is not locked in to using the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service retains the intellectual property of solutions it funds or develops, including all associated data models, products, and analytical solutions of the NHS Federated Data Platform, and the background intellectual property remains the property of the respective party.
The contract for the FDP and Associated Services includes specific provisions to mitigate vendor lock-in and support transition to an alternative provider at the end of the contractual period. The contract is available at the following link:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0f8a65b5-23a2-4294-abb1-a7fd8efb3ad0
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to take steps to protect digital ownership.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is taking steps to protect digital ownership by introducing the Property (Digital Assets etc) Bill. This Bill confirms that digital assets such as crypto-tokens can be recognised as personal property under the law of England and Wales, and Northern Ireland. This clearer legal recognition will provide greater certainty and legal protection for individuals and businesses who hold or transact with these assets, including in cases of theft, insolvency, inheritance, and when used as security for loans.
Justice is a devolved matter in Scotland, which has a distinct legal tradition in property law. The Scottish Government has been consulting separately on the recognition of digital assets as property under Scots law.
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 (a) outputs and (b) intermediate artefacts generated via Foundry workflows are permitted to be retained by Palantir Technologies for the purpose of product refinement.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All products, outputs, and intermediate artefacts generated within the Federated Data Platform, funded by the National Health Service under the NHS Federated Data Platform Associated Services (FDP-AS) agreement, are the intellectual property of the NHS, and Palantir is not permitted to utilise these for their own purposes. Further information on the FDP-AS is available at the following link:
https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0f8a65b5-23a2-4294-abb1-a7fd8efb3ad0
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 60843 on Civil Service: Equality, if she will place in the Library a copy of the (a) training and (b) support materials provided to civil servants for the training events held by (i) Inclusive Employers and (ii) Diversify World.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Materials associated with the Inclusive Employers training are the intellectual property of the provider and cannot be published by the Department for contractual reasons.
The Diversify World Black History Month event was a presentation without support materials.
Asked by: Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which organisations have been invited to meet his Department in plenary sessions to discuss the intellectual property rights of creative industries.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Government has committed to establishing stakeholder working groups to inform the development of policy on copyright and AI.
In line with debates in Parliament on the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are convening the first meeting of these stakeholder working groups on 16th July. The Government will publish details and a list of working group members in due course.
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 intellectual property rights NHS England retains over (a) data models, (b) ontologies and (c) analytics solutions produced within the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Within the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), the National Health Service retains the Intellectual Property of the solutions it funds or develops, including all associated data models, ontologies, including the NHS Canonical data model, products, and analytical solutions.
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: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool West Derby)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2025 to Question 49250 on Plants: Disease Control, what assessment he has made of the the potential impact of the UPOV 1991 convention on small holder and subsistence farmers globally?.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
Signatories to the 1991 UPOV convention are part of a global plant variety protection system. UPOV’s mission is to encourage the development of new plant varieties for the benefit of society. The assurance that intellectual property will be respected encourages plant breeders to invest in new varieties, critical for all in the face of climate change and food security.
Requirements under UPOV91 apply to new varieties and not existing traditional varieties. The protection of new varieties is voluntary and is a decision made by the plant breeder. To become a member, regulations must align to UPOV91, but there is some degree of flexibility in how national policies are implemented, allowing for local needs to be reflected.
Furthermore, Article 15(2) of the convention contains an optional exception to the Breeder’s Right, allowing farmers to use seed collected from their own crops for their own use with enforcement via domestic legislation.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Department for Business & Trade, and Defra are working together to find a balance between protecting plant breeders’ rights, the need for smallholder farmers to have access to better seed varieties, and the sovereignty of informal seed systems, upon which many smallholder and subsistence farmers rely.
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: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of Ofcom’s proposals to remove the prohibitions on (a) matching rights and (b) bundling.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As we set out in our Creative Industries Sector Plan, the Government wants a healthy and mixed TV ecology. This includes public service broadcasters providing an engine room of creativity whilst our independent production sector continues to create more intellectual property and British content that can be exported globally.
Ofcom, as the independent media regulator, is responsible for the guidance to public service broadcasters on commissioning codes of practice and has consulted on their proposals and will be carefully considering all of the responses they have received.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54828 on Civil Servants: Training, if he will publish the full training (a) documentation and (b) modules prepared for the course.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is not possible to share these products as they are interactive e-learning and videos that need to run on learning management systems. We would not publish learning content or materials themselves, as they might contain internal policy details, or intellectual property owned by a third party.