"UK health department ends data deal with ‘spy tech’ company Palantir", 11 September 2021.

The UK’s Department of Health and Social Care has terminated a data deal regarding adult social care with the controversial US ‘spy tech’ company Palantir following criticism from privacy campaigners...

The department published a document last month stating... the department “is seeking to move away from reliance on third party data analytics platforms and software”...

In March last year, the UK government signed a deal with Palantir and a number of US tech giants... to run a giant COVID-19 datastore that was billed as a temporary solution... 

Privacy campaigners warned at the time that it could involve an “unprecedented” transfer of citizens’ sensitive health information to a private company. 

In February, openDemocracy and the tech justice group, Foxglove, initiated legal proceedings against the government to force it to commit to avoid extending Palantir’s contract beyond the COVID-19 pandemic without a public consultation. In March, the Department of Health said that it had placed the contract on pause...

The department has not confirmed whether the adult social care data contract is separate from Palantir's work on the NHS COVID datastore.

According to Palantir, its software is being used to “provide secure, reliable and timely processing of data – while protecting the privacy of data subjects – to enable NHS decision-makers to make informed, effective and responsible public health decisions”.