Palantir directly lobbied government minister to use its software

FoI request reveals Palantir's ties to UK government

US spy tech firm Palantir directly contacted Tom Pursglove, minister of state for disabled people, health and work, urging him to adopt its technology to crack down on benefits fraud.

Palantir, founded by PayPal co-founder and Trump supporter Peter Thiel, wrote to Pursglove in April to brief him on its technology, promising that it could help the Department for Work and Pensions to "recover large amounts of fraud."

According to emails seen by The Guardian after a Freedom of Information request, Palantir also attached a note "outlining our thinking" and trying to arrange a meeting with Pursglove or his team "to explore whether this capability could be of benefit here in the UK."

Pursglove's brief as a minister includes financial support for those at risk of falling out of work, including statutory sick pay (SSP) and disability living allowance (DLA). This is an area where the government has been concerned about fraud in the past.

Palantir's message outlined the use of its software at another location, which DWP had redacted in the FoI request. It added, "We recognise that the UK context is complex and unique. Nevertheless we believe there is scope for rapid read-across, potentially enabling DWP to identify and recover large amounts of fraud."

This is the latest insight into how Palantir is seeking to expand its influence across the UK public sector.

The company has previously talked about its plan to buy its way into the NHS - a plan that seems to be working, as the health service awarded the company a £25 million contract in a closed tender earlier this year.

Palantir is also seen as a leading potential supplier for the £480 million Federated Data Platform. The recent £25 million contract has been seen as a gateway for easier access to the FDP, and some stakeholders have called it "a stitch-up."

Palantir is also working its way into other areas of the government, including the defence sector - signing a £75 million deal with the MoD last year.

David Davis, who has previously raised concerns about Palantir's involvement in the NHS, agreed that tackling benefit fraud was important but said doing so depended on the approach used.

"One difficulty with this sort of issue is that a primary method of finding a solution involves collating vast amounts of data, spotting trends and then picking out individuals

"Unfortunately, that goes to the greatest concern any British government should have about Palantir - namely its history of security-related data management. So I would want to be very, very sure that there was formidable privacy protections before allowing Palantir in."

Palantir said views like Davis' were based on a misunderstanding of its model, and that it does not collect, mine or sell data.

"[The meeting] would have been to discuss how our software could help DWP officials to better organise their information in order to tackle fraud and error in the round - which costs the UK taxpayer billions of pounds a year that could otherwise potentially be spent in areas such as health or education," a spokesperson said.

They added, "We make no apology for constantly looking for new ways in which our software can help and there is nothing unusual about writing official correspondence to ministers offering ideas for how it could."

The company also lobbied foreign secretary James Cleverly and his permanent undersecretary, and invited senior civil servants to attend a briefing on the platform's "wider capabilities."

In its FoI response to The Guardian, the DWP said its ministers had not met Palantir. The Home Office declined to comment.