Claims by Palantir that concerns over the US data analytics company’s multimillion-pound NHS contract are “ideologically motivated” have been rejected by the chair of a parliamentary committee.
It was also appropriate for the government to seek guidance on activating a break contract in the deal, said Chi Onwurah, a Labour MP who heads the science, innovation and technology select committee.
Louis Mosley, the executive vice-chair of Palantir in the UK, had urged the government not to give in to “ideologically motivated campaigners” as ministers explored a way out of a £330m NHS contract with the tech company for England.
Ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s deal to deliver the Federated Data Platform (FDP) amid questions over the company’s presence in the public sector.
The FDP is an AI-enabled data platform designed to connect disparate health information across the NHS. Palantir also has contracts with the Ministry of Defence, several police forces and the UK’s financial watchdog.
Onwurah’s cross-party committee will report in the coming weeks on its inquiry into the digital reorganisation of government and public services, including the role of AI, after a series of sessions in which evidence has been taken from experts, NHS bosses and companies including Palantir.
In relation to Palantir, she flagged concerns in three areas: the contract awarded to the company; the use of patient data and the extent of distrust in the NHS that may act as a barrier to the service’s move from analogue to digital; and the issues around Peter Mandelson’s role in the deal. Mandelson was a co-founder of Global Counsel – a firm that advised Palantir.
“Those three issues have not been a fringe concerns,” Onwurah told the Guardian. “There may be those who have an ideological concern about data and Palantir but there are issues around contract transparency, vendor lock-in, value for money and data security.
“They are not fringe ideological concerns, but ones that should concern all of us and particularly those who want to secure a shift from analogue to digital for the NHS,” she added.
“One of the challenges of fusing innovation to the NHS is that so many NHS staff are burned out after Covid and austerity. So to add on to that a resentment relating to trust issues makes something that is difficult all the more so.”
Onwurah said that the committee’s concerns related in part to the circumstances in which Palantir had been awarded a contract after working with the NHS at a nominal cost. Large tech companies are known to use strategies such as providing free or heavily discounted work as a means to position themselves as the best candidate to win government contracts.
“I think it’s right [the government] are exploring all options including how to break with the contract, as there are ongoing concerns about the take-up of the FDP, as long as it is being run by Palantir,” she added.
Martin Wrigley, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee and an MP who has encouraged the contract’s termination, has called on the government to procure a new consortium of UK tech experts to build a platform for the NHS.
Mosley used his appearance before the committee last July to accuse British doctors of choosing “ideology over patient interest” after they attacked the company’s contract to process NHS data.
He told the Times this week that the government should resist calls to eject the company from NHS England’s data systems. “What some ideologically motivated campaigners are suggesting should happen would harm patient care and prevent some of the biggest challenges facing the NHS from being tackled,” Mosley said.
