Tories' NHS IT proposals slammed by own party member

"Google is the last company I would trust with data belonging to me," he wrote. "My party would be mad to give control of sensitive records to an internet giant notorious for ignoring privacy concerns."

The government needed to "impose some limits on how personal data is managed, anonymised and used", he said, admitting that this would be a difficult task that required international co-operation. The data also needed to be held in the UK to ensure it is protected by British law, he said.

Davis expressed concerns about how the IT suppliers would make money if the service were free to users. "It should not be possible to make money out of holding health data," he said. "Health information has to be secure, and should not be available to be used for commercial purposes."

"That means it should not be sold on, it should not be data mined for commercial insights, and it should not be used for targeted advertising," he said.