The current contract with Palantir is due to end in September 2024. We therefore asked DLUHC what its plans were after 2024. DLUHC told us it would look “very closely” at next steps and would take a decision at the “appropriate moment”.37 We challenged the Department on when an appropriate moment would be given the end of the current contract was less than a year away. It told us that it was “constantly looking at what data and digital solution we need to run the programme and to enable the data flows” between the organisations involved, and that it would continue to do so when considering its requirements for the future.38 It noted that it could extend the Palantir contract one more time for one more year. DLUHC acknowledged the criticism it had received about how the contract had been set up at the beginning, and that it did not want to end up in a situation where it had no options, but that it was waiting for policy decisions to be made by Ministers.39 We therefore asked DLUHC about whether DLUHC would have enough time to run a procurement exercise if it needed to and what was its point of no return. DLUHC said that it did not know precisely when this was, but that it was working closely with commercial colleagues to work out an appropriate timetable.40