Written questions by Mohamed.

What steps he is taking to provide accessible scientific evidence to help ensure public confidence in food safety and environmental policy when new chemical additives are introduced.

All food and feed additives permitted for use in the United Kingdom must undergo a comprehensive, evidence‑based safety assessment before approval. This process evaluates potential risks and ensures additives can only be used in specified food categories, at controlled levels, and with any necessary labelling requirements. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for assessing and authorising new additives and for reviewing changes to existing approvals. To support transparency and public confidence, the FSA publishes its scientific risk assessments and consults publicly on proposed authorisations so that stakeholders and consumers can provide their views before decisions are made.

What steps he plans to take to ensure parliamentary oversight of the proposed changes to NICE regulations.

The proposed amendments to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence regulations were subject to a public consultation, which ran from 9 December 2025 to 13 January 2026. The Department is currently analysing consultation responses and will shortly finalise a statutory instrument (SI) to bring forward secondary legislation to amend the regulations.The SI will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the negative parliamentary procedure. The policy merits of the SI will be scrutinised by the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, in line with its terms of reference at the following link:https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/255/secondary-legislation-scrutiny-committee/content/120278/slsc-terms-of-reference/As is conventional, the SI will be laid before Parliament at least 21 days before coming into force to ensure Parliament has adequate time to consider it.

When his Department will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley dated 17 September 2025.

I replied to the Hon. Member’s correspondence on 19 November.

What assessment his Department has made of potential alternative suppliers to Palantir for the Federated Data Platform contract; and whether that assessment included consideration of levels of alignment with NHS principles of (a) universality, (b) transparency and (c) patient trust.

NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations. The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements. The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian. Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England. Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data. The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.

What safeguards are in place to ensure that patient data managed by Palantir under the Federated Data Platform contract cannot be (a) accessed, (b) used and (c) transferred for purposes unrelated to NHS (i) care and (ii) administration.

NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations. The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements. The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian. Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England. Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data. The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.

What consultation NHS England carried out with (a) patients, (b) healthcare staff and (c) data governance experts prior to awarding the Federated Data Platform contract to Palantir.

NHS England ran a rigorous independent and transparent procurement exercise for the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP), in line with public contract regulations. The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. Potential suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security, and technical capability to meet contractual requirements. The plans for an NHS FDP followed a consultation with trusts and integrated care boards to gather insight in order to understand what their common issues and challenges were in relation to data. The programme is supported by a Data Governance Group, made up of information governance professionals. The programme is also supported by the Health and Social Care Data Public Panel, a group consisting of patient, public, and professional representatives with an interest in patient data, including the Office of the National Data Guardian. Privacy by design is a core principle of the NHS FDP, with robust security measures to safeguard patient information. Access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit patients and/or the NHS in England. Palantir provides the software platform, Foundry, that underpins the NHS FDP. NHS England remains the data controller at all times for the national instance. Each NHS organisation is the data controller for their local NHS FDP instance and decides how their local data is used.Palantir operates strictly under the instruction of the NHS. They do not own or control NHS data. The NHS FDP is built with robust security and privacy controls, including Privacy Enhancing Technologies procured separately from Palantir. Data access is tightly governed. Only authorised users can access data for approved purposes, and all access is logged and auditable.

What steps he is taking to ensure that the 10-Year Plan for Health enables equitable access to (a) palliative and (b) end-of-life care.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.One of the three shifts that the 10-Year Health Plan will deliver is the shift of healthcare from the hospital into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative care and end of life care services will have a big role to play in that shift and were highlighted in the plan as being an integral part of neighbourhood teams.I have tasked officials to look at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all- age palliative and end of life care, in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

What steps he is taking to expand the provision of (a) palliative and (b) end-of-life care in the community.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. ICBs, including the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB, which covers the Stafford constituency, are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.As set out in the Government’s recently published 10-Year Health Plan, we are determined to shift more care out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting. Palliative care and end of life care services, including hospices, will have a big role to play in that shift, and were highlighted in the plan as being an integral part of neighbourhood teams.The Government and the National Health Service will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that, in future, services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining how to operationalise the required shifts in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.

Whether his Department has considered providing (a) funding and (b) other support to NHS Trusts to participate in early access programmes for (i) Givinostat for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and (ii) other medicines.

The Department understands the importance of rapid patient access to new medicines for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and has worked with NHS England to consider the issues raised by the givinostat early access programme. The first National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committee meeting for givinostat took place on 10 July 2025, with a provisional date for a decision in September. If the manufacturer, Italfarmaco, can offer a cost-effective price to enable a positive NICE recommendation, NHS England is ready to work with the company to explore immediate funding options for the treatment.Although medicines administered via company-sponsored early access programmes (EAPs) are licensed, EAPs do not share common clinical, data, or regulatory standards, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust, and that can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources.It would not be appropriate for the Government or NHS England to issue any form of national direction around the participation in these early access programmes as it would both pre-empt and undermine the role of NICE, whose very purpose is to advise the National Health Service on whether or not particular treatments should be made routinely available on the NHS.The Government does, however, support patients getting early access to new, innovative medicines through established routes such as the Early Access to Medicines Scheme.

Whether the review of the early access to medicines system will include Early Access Programmes of the type used for Givinostat; and what steps he is taking to (a) help tackle geographic variations in uptake and (b) improve equitable access to innovative treatments across the NHS.

The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs as a priority, and health equity as a cross-cutting theme. The Department understands the importance of rapid patient access to new medicines for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and has worked with NHS England to consider the issues raised by the Givinostat early access programme.We are also working to review the effectiveness of access schemes for rare disease therapies. This will focus on the Early Access to Medicines Scheme, the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, and the Innovative Medicines Fund, but will broadly consider access to rare disease therapies.