Hillsborough Green Councillor Toby Mallinson has called on Sheffield’s Health Trusts not to opt into a contract with Palantir Technologies at a meeting of the Council’s Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee.
Palantir is a US Technology company that uses artificial intelligence to collect data on individuals from a range of official agencies and social media. The concern from many of Palantir’s opponents in the US and in the UK is that its powerful software could be used to profile and target political opponents and compromise civil liberties. Palantir’s tools are used by Israel in its brutal occupation and genocide and the United States Immigration and Civil Enforcement Agency (ICE) in its deadly raids of immigrant communities.
Palantir has won an NHS Contract to set up a Federated Data Platform. This created the potential for future access to information on patients that could be shared and misused by any UK Government that wants to target particular communities or people who disagree with their policies
Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, that makes health decisions for 2.8 million people has already deferred adopting Palantir’s Federated Data Platform expressing concern that it risks eroding public trust.
Councillor Mallinson said,
“Sheffield City Council has recently passed an Ethical Procurement Policy to decide who we do or do not contract with. Because Palantir has been heavily implicated in war crimes by the United Nations, under the policy it is unlikely that the council would work with them. If the Council would not give Palantir a contract to manage bin collection data, how can they be allowed to handle the most sensitive data of our most vulnerable citizens? As a City of Sanctuary, I want the new Policy to set a moral compass for all public bodies in Sheffield.
“I believe that the Sheffield Health Trusts should adopt the same principles as we are taking in the Council and opt out of this Government contract that threatens our civil liberties, trust in the NHS and the future of our friends in immigrant communities.
“Both the Policy and the debate today are the direct result of Green Party pressure on these issues. With a ‘Green in the room’, things happen.”
The Health Scrutiny Committee had asked for assurances from South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board regarding the safeguards over how data on patients would be used but Councillor Mallinson wanted them to go further, calling on them to,
“cease plans to adopt the Federated Data Platform based upon ethical and moral grounds, and the potential future risks to data that have been exposed by Palantir’s use of patient data in the United States.”
The outcome of the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee meeting was that the Chair will write to the NHS Trusts with all of the issues that were raised by the public and Councillors. No officer was sent by the Trusts to answer questions from the committee though they did submit written responses.
Councillor Mallinson said,
“It was very disappointing that no NHS representatives appeared at the meeting. However, I am pleased that we have now put the Palantir contract on the agenda as a standing item and that we are ready to call the Trusts in if they move further towards opting into the contract. All Councillors present expressed deep concern about the huge ethical problems and risks of the contract.”
