UK government withholding details of Palantir contract
KPMG is being paid £8 million to promote Peter Thiel’s tech in NHS hospitals – but we’re being forced to fight for information about this public contract.
LUCAS AMIN and PETER GEOGHEGAN
It’s been a good week for Palantir. The controversial spy-tech company, co-founded by Trump donor Peter Thiel, looks set to secure even more UK government work after the defence secretary pledged to expand the role of AI in the military.
Palantir already holds a £330 million NHS data contract. But as Democracy for Sale revealed last week, most hospitals in England are not using the software, with many complaining that it simply isn’t up to scratch.
To encourage hospitals to take it up, the government signed an £8 million deal with consultancy giant KPMG to “promote the adoption” of Palantir’s tech in the NHS.
We wanted to know more about how this money is being spent. How exactly has KPMG been promoting Palantir’s software to hospitals? And has it worked?
So, we submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), asking for reports produced by KPMG under its contract, as well as briefings prepared for Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who publicly supported the deal.
The government’s response? Silence. They’re refusing to release the information—so now we’re fighting for transparency.
Sue Hawley, executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, told us the government’s “impulse to secrecy around public money and public contracts” is “deeply concerning.”
“KPMG’s contract raises a real question: if [Palantir’s] software is so good, why does the government need to give £8 million of taxpayers’ money to a management consultancy to encourage NHS hospitals to use it?,” she added.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who previously sat on the health select committee, called on the government to “overhaul its procurement processes before another disastrous contract is signed with Palantir.”
Here’s what happened.
We filed our FOI request in March. Under the law, public bodies must respond within 20 working days. But on the day the response was due, DHSC said it needed an extra month to “assess the public interest.”
Officials claimed that releasing details of KPMG’s work could damage the “formulation of government policy.”
A month later, the department delayed its response again—citing the same reasoning. Now it’s saying we can expect a response by mid-June.
While FOI law allows deadline extensions when public interest is involved, Democracy for Sale has seen this provision repeatedly abused to delay legitimate disclosures.
Just last year, DHSC withheld details of meetings with Tory mega-donor Frank Hester for four months—blaming “an administrative system error.”
We’re concerned the same thing is happening here. So, we’ve asked the Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees FOI compliance, to investigate.
Our case matters. Palantir’s £330 million NHS contract has been deeply controversial. Privacy campaigners warn that a company that is helping Trump’s migrant deportations should not have access to sensitive UK health data.
Yet Palantir continues to deepen its ties in the UK. The recent Strategic Defence Review—which relied on Palantir’s technology to “sift through submissions”—is expected to spark a wave of new AI investment, much of which will benefit firms like Palantir.
The company also enjoys top-tier political access in Westminster. Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm Global Counsel has advised Palantir, and the company has hired several former politicians, including ex-Tory Defence Minister Leo Docherty.
Naomi McAuliffe, head of policy and research at Amnesty International UK, says that Palantir’s involvement in major public contracts “has huge implications for data protection” and called on the government to “ditch this dirty company.”
“The government needs to move away from Palantir, not invest more of our tax money to promote a company that benefits no one but itself,” she said.
All of this makes it even more urgent to understand exactly how public money is being spent on Palantir products.
At Democracy for Sale, we’ve learned that the only way to get transparency is to fight for it. We’ll continue doing just that—on this case and many others.
If you don’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help us keep up the pressure.
This article (UK government withholding details of Palantir contract) was created and published by Democracy for Sale and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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