Speeches by Gill.

“Yes, I would.”

“We are not locked into Palantir, as you have heard.”

“There will always be. Do not forget that we have the single patient record coming up. It is part of the Health Bill. We will be looking for capability across the country in terms of delivering some of that. While there might be some regional projects, this is a national rollout. This is digital transformation across th…”

“I am answering the question, but the question was: what is Imperial College doing?”

“Let me come back to that. Imperial College is looking at the effectiveness of the FDP.”

“The merger is being worked through at the moment. We do not have the level of detail of what that will look like at this stage.”

“The contract will come up for review this year, in line with the standard contract management processes.”

“Yes. Imperial College is doing the independent evaluation of the effectiveness of FDP, and it is also making sure that it is meeting its terms and conditions and contractual—”

“As with anything, we would have to give due regard if there was a breach of international law. What we cannot do is get into allegations.”

“I know, but it is value for taxpayer. At the end of the day, when you procure nationally, you will get a far better deal than if every single trust, as we see right now, has its own procurement and has to pay much more—”

“The platform is live over 139 trusts, and 170 have signed up. Of course we do not want a big transformational programme like this, which is about patient benefits, to incur any issues. I know that people have concerns about the supplier and Palantir, but let’s look at what it has delivered—100,000 patients have undergo…”

“We looked at British companies to see which had that capability. There was an exploration, and those companies simply did not exist. The Palantir contract includes companies that it was working with when it pitched for the contract. Three of the four are British companies. The other company is based in Northern Ireland…”

“No, I am saying that it was a mistake in terms of the language that was written about who has access, but the safeguards in place in the contract mean that you can audit and see who used what and for what purposes, on a time-limited basis. I want to assure the British public that their data is secure because the NHS is…”

“It was not a mistake; it was a clarification of who has access. There are safeguards in place within the contract that shows you who has access for a tiny, limited period of time.”

“Let me start with that. I am assured, and have looked at it, that before the contract was put out for tender through the Government’s normal processes, there was a horizon scan about who had the capability. The NHS is not procuring a supplier; it is procuring capability.”

“Public sector pay is competitive.”

“For the ICBs I have spoken to my chief executive, and he tells me why it is important. In the context of the cuts and the limited resources they face, this is hugely significant because they can make population-related decisions by having all of that information accessible in one place.”

“What was your question?”

“In the ICBs?”

“I understand the concerns that people have, but this is not about transferring ownership of NHS data, because the NHS is the controller of data. That is what the public care about—who owns my data and who is going to use my data?”