What specific purposes are the Ministry of Health's 459 Microsoft Copilot licences being used for, and is Copilot used in any way to inform health policy advice, regulatory decisions, or the analysis of patient or population health data?

Answer

I am advised the Ministry of Health’s Microsoft 365 Copilot licences are used as a productivity tool within core Microsoft applications (such as Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams). The primary purpose is to support staff with routine tasks such as drafting, summarising documents and emails, producing presentations, capturing meeting notes, and locating and synthesising information already held within the Ministry. Copilot is not used to make or determine health policy advice, regulatory decisions, or clinical or population health analysis. It is a support tool only, and any outputs are subject to human review and standard quality assurance processes. Its use is governed by the Ministry’s AI Policy, which requires staff to remain accountable for all decisions and places strict controls on the types of information that can be entered into AI systems, including protections for health and other sensitive data.