Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with what frequency his Department assesses the work of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's regulation of private fertility clinics; and when the last such assessment was conducted.

The Department holds quarterly meetings with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) at which the Authority’s performance against its statutory duties is discussed. Outside of these meetings, officials have daily contact with members of the HFEA’s Executive on a range of business matters. The Department also has observer status at all meetings of the full Authority, the HFEA’s Audit and Governance Committee and the Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee.

The HFEA’s regulatory duties, as determined by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, apply equally to fertility clinics in the NHS and independent sectors.