What’s so secret about data giant’s NHS deal with Palantir?

Last November, the US spy tech firm Palantir won a £330 million contract from NHS England to create a Federated Data Platform (FDP) – service which the NHS claims will “unlock” the power of its data to “understand patterns, solve problems, plan services for local populations” by centralising where that data is held. In principle, it’s an important and necessary step towards modernising the health service. In practice, doctors and transparency campaigners say Palantir’s involvement raises serious privacy and trust concerns. This hasn’t been alleviated by the fact that 417 pages of the 586-page contract published in December, including a section headed “Protection of Personal Data”, are redacted or completely blacked out. Last Friday the Good Law Project filed a pre-action protocol letter protesting against the redactions on transparency grounds. The campaign group has asked NHS England to republish the contract with no redactions, or at least label why each one is justified under the Freedom of Information Act, by 26 February. An NHS spokesperson said that NHS England will be “responding formally” to the letter “in due course”. The UK’s health secretary, Victoria Atkins, has claimed “the safety and security of patient data is front and centre” for the FDP. The proof is in the paperwork.