UK parliamentary committee urges government to trigger break clause on Palantir's £330M NHS data contract

Summary

A UK parliamentary committee has raised serious concerns about Palantir's role in the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), calling it an "unacceptable point of weakness" for national health infrastructure. The committee urged the UK government to activate a break clause in the £330M contract awarded in 2023, warning that over-reliance on a single foreign technology provider creates dangerous dependency and concentration risks. The FDP is an AI-enabled system designed to link health data across English services and support clinical decision-making. The committee noted that once such systems are deeply embedded, switching providers becomes prohibitively expensive and disruptive. Palantir has defended its work, claiming it improves patient outcomes and operates under government contracting authority control.