Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on creating the world’s most (a) advanced, (b) secure and (c) AI-ready health data platform.

On 7 April 2025, the Prime Minister announced that the Government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million to create a new Health Data Research Service (HDRS), co-designed through engagement with the public and patients, data users and stakeholder organisations.

Significant progress has been made since then towards the creation of HDRS, as highlighted in the recent NHS England blog post from the senior officials responsible for the programme, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/blog/health-data-research-service-unlocking-the-potential-of-health-and-care-data-to-transform-lives/

Key achievements to date include: job adverts going live for CEO and Chair; stakeholder engagement forums established; and coordinated commitments in three major Government strategy publications, namely the Industrial Strategy, 10-Year Health Plan and Life Sciences Sector Plan.

Over the coming months, we will establish the independent organisation that will run HDRS and complete detailed discovery work. In autumn 2025, we will publish comprehensive policy principles developed with leading experts across healthcare, research, patients, ethics and data protection. Our first services will launch by the end of 2026, with core capabilities rolling out progressively.