Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all Integrated Care Boards offer (a) three full cycles of IVF to women under 40 who have not conceived after two years of regular unprotected intercourse or 12 cycles of artificial insemination and (b) one full cycle of IVF to women aged 40 to 42 who meet the same criteria.

In the light of broader pressures on the National Health Service and on-going changes within NHS England, we have been looking again at achievable ambitions to improve access to fertility services and fairness for all affected couples.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is currently reviewing their guidelines, Fertility problems: assessment and treatment, which will be the clinical standards for the future NHS offer.

The Department is also considering how best to support integrated care boards to improve their local offer.