Written questions by Wrigley.

Whether her Department commissioned an independent assessment of the viability of proposed engineering solutions for Phase 5 of the South West Rail Resilience Programme (a) during and (b) since the Spending Review 2025.

We are continuing to fund drainage and ground investigations that will provide Network Rail with detailed data on the stability of the cliffs above that section of route and will inform their consideration of a proposal for a long-term solution in due course. The project will be kept under active review as part of our longer-term pipeline of schemes, for further consideration when funding discussions are being held and we have a clear proposal for a long-term solution.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of working with commercial suppliers whose senior leadership have expressed overt political affiliations on the reputation of NHS England.

Commercial contracts awarded by the Department, NHS England, or other National Health Service bodies are held with a company rather than individuals.NHS bodies set their own policies on how to award contracts, but they must do so in line with the law, specifically the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and now the Procurement Act 2023 which came into force in February 2025, and central policy. The Government uses a standard selection questionnaire that requires suppliers to confirm they meet certain standards. Suppliers can be excluded for a variety of reasons, including where they are guilty of grave professional misconduct or where they have shown significant or persistent deficiencies in the performance under a prior public contract. Full guidance on the Procurement Specific Questionnaire, which replaces the standard selection questionnaire under the Public Contract Regulations, can be found on the Government Commercial Function’s Procurement Pathways website.

Whether he plans to periodically review NHS AI models to ensure continued alignment with (a) data protection and (b) clinical safety standards.

There are strict safeguards in place throughout the National Health Service to protect data. All providers of services which handle patient data must protect that data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and every health organisation is required to appoint a Caldicott Guardian to advise on the protection of people’s health and care data, and to ensure that it is used properly. This includes where artificial intelligence (AI) is used in relation to patient records. The Information Commissioners Office has developed detailed AI guidance which provides an overarching view of data protection, including the need for Data Protection Impact Assessments and to ensure compliance with UK GDPR. They have also produced an AI toolkit to support organisations auditing compliance of their AI-based technologies. NHS bodies are expected to make use of this guidance and toolkit. The NHS has published two clinical risk management standards relating to clinical safety, with the codes DCB0129 and DCB0160, both of which are applicable to AI. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, manufacturers of health IT systems and health organisations that deploy and use these systems must have regard to these standards. In line with current Data Coordination Board practice, each standard comprises of: a specification, which defines the requirements and conformance criteria to be met by the user of the standard, and with the user responsible for how these requirements are met; and implementation guidance, which provides an interpretation of the requirements and, where appropriate, defines possible approaches to achieving them.

What proportion of Federated Data Platform development work is carried out by UK‑based engineers; and whether data processing beyond AWS input processes is off‑shored.

All NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) development work is carried out by United Kingdom based engineers, therefore there is no offshoring. This is documented in the contract, Information Governance Framework, and Memorandum of Understanding. It is a contractual requirement that personal data stored in the FDP and National Health Service Privacy Enhancing Technology cannot be accessed by its provider’s personnel or contractors based outside the UK. These measures collectively ensure that NHS data remains under UK jurisdiction and that all processing of patient information will be within the UK only. This is a contractual requirement, and one of the key principles of the Federated Data Platform Information Governance Framework. Data cannot be accessed or processed by non-UK Government entities.Information on how data is protected, who can access it, and under what conditions, is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/overarching-data-protection-impact-assessment-dpia-for-the-federated-data-platform-fdp/#18-in-which-country-territory-will-personal-data-be-stored-or-processed

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of Palantir's involvement on the NHS model of being free at the point of use.

The provision by Palantir Industries of the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP) has no impact on National Health Service care being free at the point of use.Palantir is a technology supplier providing the underlying technology that supports the FDP. They do not influence NHS policy, funding models, or decisions about access to care. Their role is limited to delivering technical services under the direction and control of the NHS.

Whether patients who are data controllers under the national data opt‑out can (a) review and (b) challenge how their records are processed within the Federated Data Platform.

The Federated Data Platform fully complies with the National Data Opt-Out policy. Confidential patient information is not used in the national instance, and only in a local instance for the purposes of direct care, and therefore the National Data Opt-Out does not apply. If this changes in the future, because a new product processes confidential patient information for a purpose other than direct care, the process for managing the opt out is laid out in the FDP Information Governance Framework, which can be found at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/federated-data-platform-information-governance-framework/

Whether NHS England has stress‑tested the portability of (a) data schemas, (b) application programming interfaces and (c) dashboards for use on other vendor platforms.

NHS Federated Data Platform products are built using open-source technologies, for instance Python and Spark. End-user products can also be built using open market frameworks, for instance React, interfacing to the platform Application Programming Interfaces. The NHS Federated Data Platform has extensive integration capabilities. The platform has active integrations using alternative visualisation tools, for instance PowerBI. The NHS Federated Data Platform Data Schemas are published to GitHub.

What milestones are included in the Federated Data Platform contract to (a) facilitate orderly off‑boarding and (b) data migration to an alternative provider.

The NHS Federated Data Platform Associated Services (FDP-AS) agreement has a comprehensive Exit Management Schedule which sets out the contract terms for exit, including the requirements on Palantir to support in re-procurement planning, exit, and transition assistance which would facilitate the migration to a future solution/state. Data migration is in the scope of the Exit Management provisions.The terms of the FDP-AS agreement, within the context of the potential total contract duration, sets out the timeframes and periods of assistance that NHS England may utilise to facilitate exit and migration.

What steps NHS England is taking to verify that derivative analytical outputs from the NHS Federated Digital Platform cannot be reverse‑engineered to reveal identifiable patient data.

All analytics products created by NHS England, including those developed on the NHS Federated Data Platform, are subject to a full Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA) as part of the design and development process, with further information available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/overarching-data-protection-impact-assessment-dpia-for-the-federated-data-platform-fdp/#18-in-which-country-territory-will-personal-data-be-stored-or-processedAll data used by the NHS Federated Data Platform integrates with advanced Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET). This has been procured from a separate supplier to ensure independence and to mitigate any potential conflicts of interest. This technology ensures that data is processed in a secure and privacy-preserving manner.

Whether NHS‑funded analytics solutions created on the Federated Data Platform have been (a) patented and (b) registered by (i) Palantir Technologies and (ii) its subsidiaries.

Within the NHS Federated Data Platform (FDP), where the National Health Service commissions and funds the development of solutions, the intellectual property of these solutions remains with the NHS.Under the FDP-Associated Services Agreement between NHS England and Palantir, background intellectual property, prior to entering into the agreement, remains the property of the respective party.

Whether patients will be consulted on changes to purpose‑based access policies during the contract with Palantir.

The National Health Service is committed to maintaining public trust and transparency in the use of patient data and to ensuring that patients and the public are informed and engaged in decisions that affect how their data is used. This aligns with NHS England’s broader commitment to working in partnership with people and communities.The Federated Data Platform uses a Purpose-Based Access Control model. This ensures that access to data is strictly governed by the specific purposes approved by NHS England.Any change to the approved use cases, or new use cases, will require further engagement with patients and stakeholder advisory groups, including the Specialist Information Governance Advisory Group, and approval from the Data Governance Group. This engagement would be prior to, and inform any changes to, purpose-based access policies.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of aligning the the UK and EU carbon trading systems on meeting the UK's climate targets.

The Government is committed to ensuring that any future linkage of the UK and EU Emissions Trading Schemes remains consistent with the UK’s climate obligations and will not prevent us from pursuing higher ambition. The “Common Understanding” text agreed between the UK and the EU at the 19th May Summit, states that: "The United Kingdom cap and the United Kingdom reduction pathway will be guided by the United Kingdom’s Climate Change Act obligations and Nationally Determined Contributions,” In addition, a future linking agreement: “should not constrain the European Union and the United Kingdom from pursuing higher environmental ambition, consistent with their international obligations."

What steps he is taking to support people with bladder and bowel control conditions in Devon.

All providers in Devon are asked to follow the formulary within the services they provide. The formulary provides information on continence care, with further information available at the following two links: https://southwest.devonformularyguidance.nhs.uk/formulary/chapters/18-continence https://northeast.devonformularyguidance.nhs.uk/formulary/chapters/18-continence As part of focused work in gynaecology, NHS Devon is in a project development phase to design and implement improved pathways for women with stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder conditions. Livewell Southwest provides a continence service, offering assessments to adults, those aged 17.5 years old and above, living in Plymouth, West Devon, and South Hams. Livewell provides a holistic continence assessment, including routine observations, bladder scans, and skin integrity checks, as well as reviewing past medical history, medication, mobility, carer support, and diet and fluid. They offer ongoing support and products for any bowel and/or bladder issues that are identified and may refer patients to specialist nurses for further support or district nurses for ongoing care. Conservative advice is always given as first line management options during assessments, such as pelvic floor exercises for stress urinary incontinence, or bladder training and fluid intake advice for an overactive bladder. Livewell also liaises with general practices to request medication and to request ongoing referrals to secondary care specialists if needed. Livewell works closely with the other community teams. All patients are offered an annual reassessment. For children and young people, there is a team of specialist children’s nurses and specialist nursery nurses who provide assessment, treatment, support, and advice for children and young people with bladder and/or bowel difficulties. They provide continence promotion, and healthy bladder and bowel advice for children with additional needs. They see and assess children who are eligible for continence products because of a learning or physical disability.Devon has commissioned a paediatric integrated community nurse led bladder and bowel service for children and young people up to the age of 19 years old, to improve quality of life, to support effective self-management where appropriate, and to prevent chronic conditions developing and needing treatment or surgery in secondary care where possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of hours the Environment Agency has spent providing advice to the Marine Management Organisation on marine licence applications in each of the last five years.

The Environment Agency (EA) uses Oracle Time and Labour (OTL) compliance recording to record against their various workstreams. There are many different OTL codes that record the type of advice provided to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for marine licence advice, from pre-planning advice to advice on significant infrastructure. The table below shows the number of recorded OTL hours that the EA have spent providing all types of marine licence advice to the MMO from 2020-2025 Year Hours recorded 2020-2113592021-2211032022-2311502023-248462024-251094.5

Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of hours Natural England has spent providing advice to the Marine Management Organisation on marine licence applications in each of the last five years.

The table below shows data from Natural England’s Casework Tracker (CWT) for the number of recorded hours spent providing advice to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) from 2020-2025. Both calendar and financial year splits are included. These data include some other types of MMO consultations as well as licenses which will require further analysis that has not been possible in the time available. Marine MMO Consultations closed per year – Total Hours recorded on CWT: Financial Year2020 - 212021 - 222022 - 232023 - 242024 - 25Consultations Closed588554495467588Total Hours Recorded33953353334526053345 Calendar Year202020212022202320242025 (first half of year)Consultations Closed606534525487549282Total Hours Recorded396533253171312130691510

Food and Rural Affairs, how many marine licenses were determined by the Marine Management Organisation for (a) removal of abandoned vessels, (b) firework displays, (c) maintenance of bridges or cantilevered structures, (d) installation of eco moorings and (e) coastal and flood defence works in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Sub-part202020212022202320242025(a) Removal of abandoned vessels000000(b) firework displays000000(c) maintenance of bridges or cantilevered structures141324222210(d) installation of eco moorings010100(e) coastal and flood defence works in each of the last five years for which data is available192348323116

If he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that public services do not use non-disclosure agreements on whistleblowers.

There are existing legal limitations to what NDAs can be used for, and an NDA would be unenforceable if it attempted to prevent a worker from making a protected disclosure, i.e., whistleblowing.However, we have heard calls for change and taken action. We have tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill which will further limit the use of NDAs by voiding NDAs between employers and workers that prevent a worker from speaking out about relevant harassment and discrimination in the workplace. This will give millions of workers confidence that inappropriate behaviour in the workplace will not be hidden.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency has spent on (a) mitigation and (b) compensation for flood defence projects in each of the last three years.

The table below shows the amount that the Environment Agency has spent on compensation payments in financial years 2023-24 and 2022-23. This data is based on costs incurred that were classified within transactional data as compensation payments, so may not be fully complete. To establish how much of these costs have been incurred through flood defence projects would fall into disproportionate costs. Data for 2024-25 is not available. Financial year£2023-24947,159.612022-232,158,643.80

Food and Rural Affairs, how much income the Marine Management Organisation have received from charges for (a) harbour revision orders and (b) harbour empowerment order applications in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Sub-part2020/212021/222022/232023/242024/25Total(a) harbour revision order1,447.751,208.751,576.001,515.752,326.508,074.75(b) harbour empowerment order50.0059.25208.50185.004.25507.00 *Total1,497.751,268.001,784.501,700.752,330.758,074.75(a) harbour revision order£24,000.00£20,000.00£44,000.00£74,319.00£46,737.00£209,056.00(b) harbour empowerment order£0.00£0.00£0.00£0.00£0.00£0 *Total24,000.0020,000.0044,000.0074,319.0046,737.00209,056.00(a) Band 24,309.254,590.505,114.504,548.255,211.7523,774.25(b) Band 39,624.5011,339.0010,264.009,861.2513,275.5054,364.25Total13,933.7515,929.5015,378.5014,409.5018,487.2578,138.50 * hours for the empowerment order, the fee was received in 2019 and was £4000.

Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency has spent delivering biodiversity net gain (a) above and (b) below mean high water on projects related to flood defence in the latest period for which data is available.

The Environment Agency has committed to delivering natural flood management schemes and meeting statutory requirements on habitat creation and biodiversity net gain (BNG), as part of its Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Programme. This will leave nature in a measurably better state than before work to deliver flood alleviation schemes commenced, supporting the broader goal of creating more climate-resilient places.