The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has called for UK companies to be prioritised for big NHS technology contracts, rather than US giants such as Microsoft and Palantir.

Ian Murray, minister for digital government and data, and Emily Middleton, director general of digital centre design at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), were questioned at an oral evidence session on 19 November 2025, as part of the committee’s inquiry into the Digital Centre of Government.

Emily Darlington, Labour MP for Milton Keynes Central, questioned why the NHS is “relying on companies like Palantir” — which was awarded a £330 million contract to operate the NHS federated data platform — rather than UK companies.

“We are the second-most cyber-targeted country in the world, so building our UK industry and capability is great for our economy, but also important for public confidence and our security,” Darlington said.

Samantha Niblett, Labour MP for South Derbyshire, said: “I have tried to sell to public sector as well as private sector organisations, and I know for a fact how Microsoft have ripped off the NHS.”

She added that there has been an MOU with Microsoft for £9bn, which is an intention of spend over several years and that according to the Cabinet Office, the government spent a cumulative total of £1.9bn on Microsoft software licences during the first five months of the strategic partnership arrangement.

“This speaks to procurement and the buying power of Microsoft to lock in public sector customers—although not just public sector customers.

“They are enticed with cheap deals and then locked into a contract and charged exponential amounts,” she said.

Niblett highlighted that government departments have had to pay to upgrade Microsoft Windows 10 after it stopped receiving security updates in October 2025.

“That has now resulted in them having to pay more for security checks because they’re using a very, very old version of Windows.

“I just wonder how much scrutiny and attention is given to what seems like a good contract in the first instance, getting locked in with a single provider then ends up essentially ripping off the taxpayer,” she said.

In response, Murray said that the Government Digital Service and DSIT “are trying to co-ordinate across government”.

“There is a multitude of contracts across government for all types of different kinds of digital services.

“We want to try to make sure that that is consistent across government and that we get the best bang for our buck in terms of economies of scale by buying it together—cloud services being a big
example of that,” he said.

A spokesperson for Microsoft told Digital Health News that the NHS purchases Microsoft services through a national pricing framework negotiated by the UK government, “ensuring both transparency and value for money”.

“Microsoft’s partnership with the NHS continues to deliver clear and measurable benefits – reducing IT complexity, improving patient outcomes, giving clinicians more time to focus on care delivery and helping achieve substantial savings through more efficient operations,” they said.

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