Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department has taken to ensure that the rights and lived experience of children born through surrogacy are reported to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The Department has not undertaken an assessment on the compliance of safeguarding procedures for surrogacy arrangements with the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children.

The Government has not taken any steps to ensure that the rights and lived experience of children born through surrogacy are reported to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have published advice for those considering surrogacy overseas, which clearly sets out the possible risks and the processes for returning to the United Kingdom with a child born through an international surrogacy arrangement. This advice is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/surrogacy-overseas/surrogacy-overseas