NHS England has missed a pledge to add a much less redacted model of its federated knowledge platform contract by March 11, authorized transparency advocates the Good Regulation Undertaking stated Tuesday.
As Digital Well being Information reported in January, greater than 70% of the contract with US knowledge analytics big Palantir to function the FDP, which was revealed on the federal government register in late December, was blacked out.
Components of the contract that had been redacted included a bit on the safety of non-public knowledge, references to monetary studies on the FDP and when they need to be offered in addition to particulars about key personnel and their roles and tasks.
Final month, Good Regulation Undertaking stated it was taking authorized motion towards the well being service and had issued a pre-action protocol letter to NHSE arguing that “these full-page redactions are illegal and flout the Authorities’s transparency tips as no reasoning is given behind them – in keeping with the Freedom of Info Act.”
A spokesman for the Good Regulation Undertaking stated Tuesday it had given NHSE till Friday 22 March to republish the contract. The spokesman stated the agency may proceed with a authorized declare subsequent week, if NHSE fails to fulfil the pledge.
NHSE wasn’t instantly in a position to present a remark.
On Tuesday, Good Regulation Undertaking revealed a story on its web site reporting that NHSE had continued to conduct contract negotiations with Palantir after awarding it the FDP contract in November 2023.
The story cites a letter from NHS attorneys indicating that the heavy redaction of the FDP contract was resulting from the truth that the sections had been nonetheless “topic to industrial negotiation”.
A spokesman for Good Regulation Undertaking instructed Digital Well being Information that the organisation believes such a renegotiation after the awarding of a contract is “illegal” and added: “We’re urgent NHSE’s attorneys to offer a proof with a possible view to launching one other stream of authorized motion.“