Karin Smyth

I will not. We have heard a lot from the hon. Gentleman, and I want to make some clear points to the House this evening. We have heard a great deal of discussion about commercial processes, and Members—including the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley)—have raised important points about data security, governance and ethical standards of contracts, and support for domestic suppliers and for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations. Contracts involving NHS data and digital services must be subject to proper scrutiny. The Government’s approach is to assess risks on the basis of the nature of the data, service and supplier access. Crucially, we already have the tools that we need to carry out appropriate due diligence through legal powers and robust contractual provisions. I agree with the spirit of new clause 108, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby (Ian Byrne). I fully recognise the importance of ensuring that the NHS does not inadvertently support exploitation or rights abuses. UK legislation already incorporates some international laws: for example, the Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the European convention on human rights into UK law. Similarly, we can use existing legislation and guidance to exclude suppliers from NHS procurements. Both the Procurement Act 2023 and the provider selection regime allow us to exclude providers when there has been serious misconduct or illegality. For instance, we could exclude a supplier under the Procurement Act for breaches of modern slavery and/or human trafficking laws. We have very high standards and expect all suppliers —including whichever companies go on to provide the single patient record—to meet them. On a related note, the Chancellor has already written to the Secretary of State to ask that the NHS procurement better support British industry. In the light of that, the Secretary of State has commissioned, within the health family, a review of strategic procurement pipelines to find opportunities for the new social value model to support more British jobs, skills and innovation. The First Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Heeley (Louise Haigh), who is leading work on procurement across Government, would be happy to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool West Derby as part of this important work as it progresses, and I can assure him that the actions that we take will be fully in line with the principle of international law.