Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on patient welfare of proposals made by some clinical commissioning groups to discontinue funding IVF treatment.

The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

The Government has made it clear that blanket restrictions on treatment are unacceptable and all decisions on treatment should be made by doctors based on a patient's individual clinical needs and in line with the National Institute for health and Care Excellence guidelines.