PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(9 June 2026)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department was informed that staff of Palantir Technologies UK Limited and external consultants had been granted administrative roles providing unrestricted access to identifiable patient data within the National Data Integration Tenant of the NHS Federated Data Platform prior to pseudonymisation prior to 11 May 2026; and if he will release any documents or communications relating to the disclosure of this access arrangement to Ministers or Parliament.

Asked by:
Clive Lewis (Labour)

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 benefits realised from the FDP, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/digitaltechnology/nhs-federated-data-platform/impact/fdp-uptake-and-benefits/

To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.

The Department was not informed of routine access arrangements operating in the National Data Integration Tenant of the NHS Federated Data Platform before May 2026. NHS England is reviewing information governance documents and will publish updates in due course.

Answered by:
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