Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has issued guidance to help ensure that AI solutions trained on NHS datasets align with NHS principles.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions trained on National Health Service datasets must align with core NHS principles, including safety, fairness, transparency, and accountability. These principles are embedded in the NHS’s approach to digital innovation and data use.

To support this, NHS England utilises guidance developed by the NHS Transformation Directorate, which sets out expectations for the safe, lawful, and ethical use of AI in health and care settings. This includes ensuring that AI systems are explainable, that data is used responsibly, and that decisions remain under human oversight.

The guidance has been reviewed by the Health and Care Information Governance Working Group, including the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the National Data Guardian (NDG), and is publicly available on the NHS Transformation Directorate’s website:

https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/guidance/artificial-intelligence/

This framework helps ensure that AI innovations developed using NHS data are aligned with NHS values and are deployed in a way that benefits patients, supports clinicians, and maintains public trust.