Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 36039, on fertility: medical treatments, which criteria set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 fertility services do not meet in order to be centrally commissioned.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012, part 1, Section 15, 3B (3), about services that the Secretary of States can require the Board (NHS England) to commission, states:

“(3) In deciding whether it would be so appropriate, the Secretary of State must have regard to:

(a) the number of individuals who require the provision of the service or facility;

(b) the cost of providing the service or facility;

(c) the number of persons able to provide the service or facility;

(d) the financial implications for clinical commissioning groups if they were required to arrange for the provision of the service or facility.”

The Clinical Advisory Group, which advised Ministers about the services that should be regarded as specialised and commissioned nationally by NHS England, took the view that fertility services would not meet (a) and (c) of these listed factors.