Approach follows successful contracts in the health sector
US spy-tech firm Palantir launched a direct lobbying campaign targeting UK government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
According to documents released to The Guardian, the data and analytics business co-founded by Trump financier Peter Thiel suggested ministers were looking at new software designed to reduce fraud in the social security benefits system.
The newspaper’s Freedom of Information requests yielded detail of Palantir’s letters addressed to Tom Pursglove, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, briefing him on how the company had deployed its software elsewhere, and showing how the DWP might « recover large amounts of fraud. »
The software company offered more detail on its « thinking » and asked the minister if he or his officials wanted to attend a briefing « to explore whether this capability could be of benefit in the UK. »
The DWP said it did not respond to the correspondence and no minister was briefed as a result.
The department first encountered Palantir in 2014, when Kevin Cunnington, who went on to become boss of the Government Digital Service, bumped into the firm on a fact-finding mission to California.
