MPs call for Palantir NHS contract to end by February 2027
Key Points
- MPs urged the government to exercise the February 2027 break clause in the Palantir NHS contract
- The Health and Social Care Committee cited "serious mistrust" among the public and medical profession
- NHS England admitted it could not prove the Federated Data Platform caused reported improvements
- MPs said alternative tools already exceed the FDP's capabilities in many NHS systems
- The Committee requested a government response by 21 August
MPs have urged the government to exercise the February 2027 break clause in its Palantir contract and drop the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) in favour of an alternative.
The Health and Social Care Committee set out its position in a letter to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety Preet Kaur Gill, sent on Wednesday (8 July), following an evidence session on the platform held on 16 June.
The cross-party Committee backed a recommendation from the Science and Technology Committee that the government should commit to exercising the break clause and either develop an in-house replacement or seek an alternative from UK-owned and UK-based providers.
The Committee cited “serious mistrust” of the Palantir-built platform among both the general public and the medical profession.
It warned that concerns over how NHS data is used, managed and shared could deter patients from sharing their medical information, limiting the health service’s ability to deliver its shift from analogue to digital, including through the FDP and the Single Patient Record.
The letter also challenged the evidence behind the platform’s reported benefits.
The NHS website had listed several improvements delivered by the FDP, including cuts to waiting lists and an increase in procedures carried out. However, NHS England has since acknowledged that it could not “draw conclusions about cause and effect as other variables have not been controlled for.”
The Committee added that other tools can deliver the same or similar benefits.
The Chief Data and Analytics Officer of the Chief Data and Analytical Officers Network said in a letter to NHS England that many systems “already have similar tools in use that presently exceed the capability and application of what the FDP is currently trying to develop or roll out at a system level”.
The Committee asked Gill whether the Department of Health and Social Care has received commercial advice on the feasibility of having a successor contract in place by March 2027, and requested that the department share its full contract review assessment rather than only the final decision.
It also asked for detail on the ownership of intellectual property in products and tools developed under the FDP contract.
Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee Layla Moran said the government’s arguments for retaining the platform had unravelled “little by little”.
“In the interest of public confidence in the NHS and the security of their medical information, we believe it is time to crack on with preparations to find an alternative in time for spring 2027,” Moran said. “The FDP may have had some advantages, but there are also downsides and it is evidently not the only show in town.”
The Committee requested a response to its letter by 21 August.
