Three questions for ministers to answer about Palantir’s NHS contract
According to the FT, ministers are considering extending Palantir’s contract with the NHS by two years, after a review “concluded it is not practical to replace Palantir within the next four months.”
If accurate, this demonstrates a serious ignorance of Palantir’s NHS contract, which specifically requires the firm to provide bridging support for up to 24 months if the contract is ended, in a ‘Termination Assistance Period’ to ensure continuity of service.
Ministers have not yet publicly confirmed what their decision is on whether to extend the US tech giant’s contract to provide NHS England’s Federated Data Platform (FDP). Speaking to MPs earlier this week, the Health Secretary refused to be drawn, but did emphasise the importance of “sovereignty” for NHS technology.
In the light of the FT’s report, and Yvette Cooper’s comments to the Health Select Committee this week, there are three key questions ministers need to answer with regard to the Palantir contract:
1. Are ministers aware that the contract provides for bridging support, and can they publicly confirm that this means that ending the contract does not require Palantir to be “replaced” by the end of the current contract period?
2. Can ministers provide any independent evidence to support claims that there have been “significant benefits” from Palantir’s FDP – in the light of NHS England’s admission earlier this year that it cannot show “cause and effect”?
3. Can the Health Secretary explain how her ambition of “using the NHS to develop UK sovereign AI” is compatible with giving Palantir – a US tech giant with a publicly-stated aim of US technological dominance – a central and continuing role in NHS tech?
Commenting, Foxglove Head of Communications Tom Hegarty said:
“If these reports are accurate, they would mean that Yvette Cooper has abandoned factual evidence in favour of believing spin peddled by her old ministerial colleague, Palantir lobbyist-in-chief Lord Watson.
“The claims about the supposed benefits of Palantir’s Federated Data Platform have been debunked again and again – in the press, by doctors, by NHS data analysts, and most recently by the very hospitals that ministers said were benefitting from the tools.
“The Government itself has admitted that it could not show ‘cause and effect’ behind the claims that Palantir’s kit actually helped patients. So it’s hard to see a case for renewing Palantir’s contract on the merits of its tech.
“The reported claim that it would not be ‘practical to replace Palantir within the next four months’ is, frankly, nonsense. If the FDP contract is not renewed, Palantir is contractually obligated to provide bridging support for up to two years.
“The claims that Palantir benefits the NHS have been exposed as spin. The firm – headed by Trump-supporter Peter Thiel, a critic of both the NHS and democracy – is clearly incompatible with the Health Secretary’s stated aim of ‘sovereignty.’ The only Palantir tool that indisputably works well is its Westminster lobbying machine, staffed by ennobled former Labour cabinet ministers. Ministers must ignore this influence onslaught and make decisions that put the public first – not Trump’s tech billionaire friends.”
Notes to editors
The Health Secretary’s comments to the select committee on sovereignty, and failure to provide any evidence to support claims of Palantir’s “benefits” to the NHS, can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/18242/html/
Foxglove’s recent report on Palantir’s role in the NHS, which details the lack of evidence for the firm’s claims of support for the NHS, and its lobbying operation, can be found here: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2026/10/20/palantir-nhs-foxglove-report/
The part of the FDP contract dealing with termination arrangements can be found in part 4 of the contract on https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/ at Schedule 8.5, section 5 – ‘Termination Services – Termination Access Period’.