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Case update 05 March 2024

NHS to fill in the blanks on Palantir’s heavily redacted contract

Responding to our legal action, NHS England says it will publish details of how personal data will be protected in its contract with Palantir.

NHS England has committed to publish a new version of Palantir’s contract with “fewer redactions”, in response to our legal action.

Provisions on the protection of personal data – a crucial part of a contract that deals with millions of sensitive medical records – “will no longer be redacted”.

We launched legal action last month, after the NHS published its contract with Palantir with 417 of its 586 pages completely blanked out.

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Details of the deal were smuggled out on the last working day before Christmas. And when journalists raised the issue in January, the NHS gave an unclear answer, saying only that it would “continue to work on final redactions and additional parts of the contract may be made available, if appropriate”.

In a legal letter, the NHS has told us it is now planning to publish a new version within “two weeks”. This new version will contain details of the clause which lays out how Palantir will protect personal data. And the NHS has also confirmed that it will release a version of its contract with the biotech company, IQVIA, to provide “Privacy Enhanced Technology” for Palantir’s data platform.

We’re delighted that we’ve be able to shed some light on these shady deals. But it’s not yet clear just how much of these contracts will be revealed. And the NHS warns that their commitment to publish within two weeks “should not be taken as a firm timeline”.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on these contracts as and when they appear, and we won’t hesitate to respond if further legal action is needed.