Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has conducted on investment trends in tertiary fertility services; and what guidance he offers to clinical commissioning groups proposing to decommission IVF services.

No such research has been undertaken.

Provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups. They must have regard to the guidelines on the provision of NHS funded infertility services, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in October 2014 but they must also take into account the heath needs and priorities of the local population when determining the range and level of services they are able to provide. For that reason, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

Representatives from NHS England, the British Fertility Society and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are looking at how commissioning of in vitro fertilisation services could be improved.