Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) access to weigh in services with health visitors and (b) other postnatal support is provided (i) consistently and (ii) accessibly to new parents in (A) Basingstoke, (B) Hampshire and (C) England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities have responsibility for commissioning public health services, including health visiting and services for all new parents. The Healthy Child Programme sets out the services and support families can expect and includes guidance on weighing, screening, immunisation, health improvement, wellbeing, and parenting, as well as five mandated health and development reviews.
Department officials and NHS England have worked across the South East region to develop resources. This includes a Health Visiting Development Toolkit to help share best practice and ensure consistency.
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever and strengthening the health visiting service. To achieve this, we must ensure that families have the support they need to give their babies and children the best start and the building blocks for a healthy life.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing enforceable limits on the number of children conceived from a single gamete donor.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the United Kingdom’s fertility sector regulator, has advised that donor sperm, eggs, or embryos should not be used to create more than 10 families in the UK.
The HFEA expects UK licensed clinics to ensure they do not breach the 10-family limit when using donors in treatment, as clearly specified in the HFEA Code of Practice. This limit only applies within the UK, so donors and recipients should be made aware that other countries might not have the same limits, or have no limits, on the number of children or families one donor can create.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the consistency of informed consent practices in donor conception.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it sets out strict requirements in its Licence Conditions and Code of Practice in relation to obtaining informed consent from egg, sperm, and embryo donors and patients undergoing donor conception treatment.
The HFEA Code of Practice requires licensed clinics to provide donors and patients with appropriate information and an offer of counselling prior to consent being given. At inspections, the clinic’s procedures for obtaining consent are reviewed to ensure that patients and donors have provided all relevant consents before undergoing any licensed activity. All inspection reports and decisions are published on the HFEA’s website.
The Department reviews the HFEA’s performance through quarterly accountability meetings on a continuing basis.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a national system for tracking gamete and embryo donors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the United Kingdom’s fertility sector regulator, has advised that HFEA licensed clinics are required by law to provide treatment and outcome information on all gamete or embryo donations taking place at clinics. The HFEA also runs the Donor Sibling Register, which enables people born through donor treatments in licenced clinics to trace their genetic origins.
This information is published on the HFEA’s website. Clinics are required to monitor the usage of donor gametes and embryos in the UK, and to act in accordance with the guidance set out in the HFEA Code of Practice.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in relation to the regulation of donor conception.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is required by law to maintain records and make certain information available upon request to those affected by donor conception.
The HFEA was subject to a Public Bodies Review in 2023, where all aspects of the HFEA’s activity and performance was considered. The report was published on 23 November 2023, and is available at the following link:
The Department reviews performance through quarterly accountability meetings on a continuing basis, which takes account of the recommendations set out in the report.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 to reflect developments in reproductive technology.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) published Modernising Fertility Law in November 2023, which made a number of recommendations for legislative change, including around its regulatory powers. Ministers have met with the HFEA Chair and discussed the emerging regulatory challenges.
The Government is considering the HFEA’s priorities for changing the law and will decide how to take this forward at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of paragraph 4.39 of the Competition and Markets Authority’s report entitled CMA project on Timeshare Disposal, released under FOI on 21 April 2015.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010 govern the sales of timeshares. They provide significant protections, including stipulating the information consumers must be aware of prior to purchase and a14 day right to exit, should the customer change their mind.
Purchasers of timeshares are also protected by general consumer law, requiring contract terms be fair and bans mis-selling. The CMA expressed the view that some in-perpetuity clauses may be unfair, depending on circumstances.
Enabling consumers to exit timeshares is a balance between protecting consumers wanting to leave and the interests of the business and those customers who remain and share admin costs.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing legislation to provide consumers with a statutory right to exit in-perpetuity timeshare contracts.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010 govern the sales of timeshares. They provide significant protections, including stipulating the information consumers must be aware of prior to purchase and a14 day right to exit, should the customer change their mind.
Purchasers of timeshares are also protected by general consumer law, requiring contract terms be fair and bans mis-selling. The CMA expressed the view that some in-perpetuity clauses may be unfair, depending on circumstances.
Enabling consumers to exit timeshares is a balance between protecting consumers wanting to leave and the interests of the business and those customers who remain and share admin costs.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of in-perpetuity clauses in timeshare contracts on consumers.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Contracts Regulations 2010 govern the sales of timeshares. They provide significant protections, including stipulating the information consumers must be aware of prior to purchase and a14 day right to exit, should the customer change their mind.
Purchasers of timeshares are also protected by general consumer law, requiring contract terms be fair and bans mis-selling. The CMA expressed the view that some in-perpetuity clauses may be unfair, depending on circumstances.
Enabling consumers to exit timeshares is a balance between protecting consumers wanting to leave and the interests of the business and those customers who remain and share admin costs.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the time taken for the Financial Ombudsman Service to make final decisions on fractional timeshare finance products on consumers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. Tackling fraud requires a unified and coordinated response from government, regulators, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud.
The legislation surrounding the sale of timeshares and credit agreements relating to timeshares provide routes of redress where consumers have been misled.
Firstly, it is an offence under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 for traders to engage in unfair commercial practices which mislead consumers, and it is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. The Act will also afford rights of redress for consumers.
Regarding the timeshare market specifically, the Timeshare, Holiday Products, Resale and Exchange Regulations 2010 provide protections for consumers buying and selling timeshares and other long-term “holiday club” memberships, including provision for consumers to withdraw from their contract.
Consumers are protected from fraud in consumer law. Consumers that believe they have been fraudulently sold timeshare products should raise their concerns with the relevant enforcement authorities.
In cases where a consumer took out a regulated financial product to purchase a timeshare, they may have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if that product was mis-sold.
When complaints are made to the FOS, these should be dealt with in a timely manner. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, which sets out the rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, states that ‘the ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage’. Ensuring timely outcomes is one of the FOS’s main priorities for 2025-26 and it has set itself a target to resolve 85 per cent of cases received in the year within 6 months.