Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will he make an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the number of in vitro fertilization cycles funded by English clinical commissioning groups for each fertility patient.

The level of provision of local health services available to patients, including fertility treatment, is a matter for local healthcare commissioners. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services including fertility services that meet the needs of their whole population.

In respect of National Health Service fertility services, the Government have been consistently clear that we expect CCGs to commission fertility services in line with recommendations in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines, so that there is equal access across England. The NICE fertility guidelines are evidence-based and represent national best-practice for clinicians to achieve the most effective treatment.