Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many babies were born in each of the past three years to surrogate mothers; and in how many cases the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes annual data, available on their website, which includes births from surrogacy at United Kingdom licensed fertility clinics. The following table shows the number of live births from in vitro fertilisation among surrogates at UK licensed fertility clinics in each of the last three years for which information is available:
Year of treatment | Number of live births |
2021 | 105 |
2022 | 90 |
2023 | 95 |
Source: HFEA dashboard data, available at the following link:
https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/hfea-dashboard/
Data on the HFEA dashboard is rounded to the nearest five to ensure patient confidentiality. The data is as recorded by the HFEA on 1 May 2025, and reflects the data on this date, and may change over time. This does not represent the total number of births from surrogacy in the UK, only those that have been carried out within UK licensed fertility clinics.
Information is not held by the Government on cases where the surrogate mother has claimed parentage of the child contrary to the wishes of the genetic parents.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role played, if any, by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the spread of COVID-19. [T]
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department has made no assessment of the role played, if any, by the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the spread of COVID-19.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the value of drugs supplied by the NHS which are returned unopened or unsealed and subsequently destroyed due to (1) the death of the recipient, and (2) others reasons that made the use of them unnecessary.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department has made no recent estimate of the value of drugs supplied by the National Health Service, which are returned unopened or unsealed and subsequently destroyed due to the death of a recipient or another reason that made their use unnecessary.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, and if so why, drugs supplied by the NHS which are returned unopened or unsealed owing to circumstances which make them no longer required are destroyed.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department is concerned about wastage from unused medicines and is keen to minimise unnecessary extra costs. However, it does not promote the reuse of returned medicines that have left a pharmacy and returned unused by patients. This is because it is not possible to guarantee the quality of returned medicines on physical inspection alone. When medicines are returned from patient’s homes, there is no way of knowing whether the medicines have been stored or handled appropriately. Some medicines may deteriorate if, for example, left too close to a radiator, in direct sunlight or exposed to the environment. This applies whether the medicines are unopened or unsealed.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many import licences or permissions were granted in each of the last five years for live botulin toxins for the manufacture of Botox.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Clostridium botulinum toxin is the active substance used as a starting material for the manufacture of Botox, a licensed human medicine. Active substances are those substances which give a medicinal product its therapeutic effect and must be manufactured to Good Manufacturing Practice standards for active substances used as a starting material.
From 20 August 2013, manufacturers, importers and distributors of active substances who are established in the United Kingdom had to register their activity with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
The UK has no registered importers of the active substance Clostridium botulinum toxin, but has one registered manufacturer of the toxin that is Good Manufacturing Practice compliant, and was last inspected in May 2016.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have undertaken or commissioned into the creation of an effective vaccine against the synthetic horsepox virus.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has not undertaken or commissioned research in this area. However, the National Institute for Health Research and the Medical Research Council both have a wide portfolio of research activity in vaccines which support underpinning vaccine research and new vaccine technologies, through to clinical trials.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many members of each of the emergency services have been vaccinated against (1) smallpox, and (2) anthrax; what percentage of the total staff of each service this represents; and of those vaccinated, how many will need to be vaccinated again in the next year.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
There are no active vaccination programmes against smallpox or anthrax for any of the emergency services.
Vaccines can be made available to first responders responding to a confirmed anthrax incident if required. The Government still holds the smallpox vaccine for use against certain strains of orthopox viruses if required.