Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the awarding of NHS data contracts is (a) fair and (b) transparent.

NHS England is subject to Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015 and conducts procurements in adherence to the PCR. The procurements for the Federated Data Platform, which is awaiting final approval, and Privacy Enhancing Technology, which is currently in evaluation stage, are no exception.

NHS England has followed a fair, open, and transparent procurement process for both procurements. Both processes were open procedures that invited any suppliers to participate who could meet NHS England’s minimum criteria and deliver the requirements. Extensive pre-market engagement was undertaken, with all notices published on the Government’s Find A Tender and Contracts Finder sites. NHS England has been transparent with the process that has been followed, which is detailed in the tender documents published on NHS England’s e-tendering system, and has published all evaluation criteria, in accordance with PCR. Tenders have been independently evaluated by subject matter experts from across the National Health Service.