UK government to extend controversial Palantir NHS contract as it draws up plan for British alternative – UK politics live

The EU is seeking a firmer pledge from the British government to guarantee European students discounted rates on university tuition fees before a much-anticipated summit this month.

At a meeting of senior EU diplomats on Wednesday, at least six member states called for a clear commitment from the UK by the time of the summit that EU students will pay the lower domestic rate of university tuition fees.

These member states oppose deferring agreement for another half-year. Many believe a failure to reach an agreement should delay the highly prized food and drink deal to cut Brexit red tape coming into force.

European Commission negotiators have proposed postponing agreement on tuition fees by six months to ensure the success of the November event, where Burnham is expected to show his commitment to much closer ties with the EU.

Andy Burnham will meet the EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa on ۲۰ November in Brussels, with the aim of signing three agreements – on food and drink, carbon markets and youth exchange – as well as pledging a “trusted partnership” on steel and defence industries.

But a longstanding dispute over whether EU students should pay costly international tuition fees at British universities remains unresolved and could delay the implementation of the food and energy deals, which are worth billions to the British economy.

Palantir’s controversial £۳۳۰m health contract is to be extended before ministers draw up plans to replace it with a British alternative, the FT has reported.

Health secretary Yvette Cooper has faced calls from MPs and campaigners to axe the US tech firm’s contract to deliver the flagship government AI system.

The system aims to connect scattered medical files, speed up hospital discharges and improve surgery scheduling among other potentially life-saving improvements. But a review has concluded that removing Palantir from NHS data systems by triggering a break clause in its contract would be too disruptive, the FT reported.

Ministers instead plan to launch a procurement process for a UK tech alternative, with Palantir to potentially be replaced in two years.

Palantir’s UK and Europe chief executive, Louis Mosley, said ending its contract would be “putting politics above patients” and accused critics of “Palantir Derangement Syndrome”.

The company has contracts to supply AI to the Israeli military and Donald Trump’s homeland security crackdown, while its billionaire founder, Peter Thiel, has questioned democracy, said tech companies can “unilaterally change the world” and called technology an “incredible alternative to politics”.

The plan is expected to be signed off soon but Green party leader Zack Polanski accused Labour of “betrayal” and said it was “allowing the corporate capture of our most beloved institution by a genocide and Donald Trump supporting tech corporation.”

He added:

The reports today that Labour is to keep Palantir in the NHS shows that the huge sums of money paid to the likes of former Labour ministers, Peter Mandelson and Tom Watson, looks to have paid off.

Any evidence of patient benefit is highly contested by NHS staff and many NHS trusts have rejected the use of Palantir’s platform.

The government is considering placing restrictions on smart glasses amid concerns the technology is being used to surreptitiously film women, a minister has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the safeguarding minister, Satvir Kaur, hinted at a ban on selling the technology “to certain users”.

Kaur said:

The benefits of smart glasses must be weighed against the harms they can cause. The government is already looking into options to restrict smart glasses in certain settings and restricting the sale to certain users.

The minister said people who used smart glasses for filming already risked breaking the law in certain settings, such as in a court where cameras are prohibited.

Kaur added:

Other settings, such as healthcare and education, have existing safeguarding or professional policies that are relevant to smart glasses and any kind of digital recording. NHS England and the Department for Education are currently looking into wearable technology in certain settings as well.

Anna Sabine, a Liberal Democrat MP and a culture spokesperson for the party, who held Wednesday’s debate, said:

Women are reporting waking up after nights out to find videos of themselves have gone viral online, filmed without their knowledge or consent by men wearing smart glasses.

To me, these devices not only have the potential to erode safety and privacy in public spaces, but raise really important questions about consent.

An energy minister has told the bosses of Great Britain’s biggest energy suppliers to do more to help households get on top of their unpaid energy bills this winter, before the government spends almost £۲.۵bn to help write off the country’s record high debts.

Energy bosses were summoned to a roundtable meeting on Thursday to discuss the government’s plan to pay down the energy debts of about ۲.۴m of the hardest-hit households.

The debt relief scheme is part of a wider “circuit-breaker” strategy put forward by the chancellor in the annual budget statement last month. This includes measures to tackle household energy debt, which could reach £۷bn by the end of the year.

The minister for energy consumers, Polly Billington, is understood to have told bosses from energy companies including Octopus Energy, British Gas and EDF Energy that suppliers would still need to play a “crucial role” in tackling the longstanding issue of problem debt alongside the government’s multibillion-pound support package.

Suppliers are expected to proactively identify customers who may be under financial strain and offer help such as debt payment plans or pointing them in the direction of debt advice services.

The government is also planning to work with the industry to make it easier to spot households that may need extra help, and to modernise payment systems to make it easier to pay. The government has backed the use of smart meters and smart pre-pay meters to help households track their spending and avoid getting into arrears.

Shabana Mahmood has signalled she is considering a change to knife laws, following the murder of Henry Nowak.

The Home Secretary said she had not “taken any options off the table”, after Nowak’s father, Mark Nowak, called for a clearer definition in law of what a Sikh kirpan looks like.

Mark Nowak told ITV News: “I fully understand the need to carry a kirpan but surely that should be defined in law, in terms of size and type and whether it should be visible, and so on and so forth.

“And therefore, anything else should be made illegal.”

Asked about Mark Nowak’s suggestion, Mahmood told the same broadcaster:

I haven’t taken any options off the table. I’m also not going in with a fixed mind about what the right clarifications of the law might be.

It’s important to get the right balance between religious expression in this country, which is something that many of us of a faith, including myself, hold very dearly, but do so in a way that is within what we expect of our citizens for the purposes of the criminal law.

Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch said lawmakers “do need to look at” knife laws.

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Employers will be forced to publish salaries on job adverts, Andy Burnham has announced, in the government’s latest “small fix” to help improve people’s lives.

The prime minister said his government would bring in a legal requirement for companies to say what they pay when listing new jobs, which campaigners say will help young people and women in particular achieve more equal pay.

Burnham said the move would help deal with the frustration of applying for a job without knowing the salary, while officials say that publicising pay will help those in work know if they are being paid fairly in comparison with others.

The prime minister said:

Whether you’re a young person starting out or a parent trying to support your family, you should know what a job pays before spending your time and effort applying for it.

That’s why we will make it a legal requirement for all employers to say what you pay.

But breaking down barriers is only one part of the job. We also need businesses to open more doors and give young people the experience and confidence to take that first step into the world of work.

Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: “Anyone who’s searched for a job knows how frustrating it is to read ‘competitive salary’.”

Recent research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found less than half of employers always published salaries ranges on job adverts, while less than a fifth always published specific salaries.

Experts say omitting pay details from job adverts makes it harder for young people to know which jobs to apply for, and makes it easier for employers to give lower pay offers to some candidates, including women.

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Burnham has spent much of his first few months in power announcing a series of “small fixes” to help improve people’s daily lives, while promising more radical change to come. The changes have included removing VAT from electricity bills, reducing bus fares and a £۱۰۰ council tax rebate announced at the budget.

Meanwhile, in other developments: