Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the findings on IVF add-on procedures of the report by the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine, Lack of Evidence for interventions offered in UK fertility centres, published on 28 November 2016; and if he will make a statement.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is assessing the report by the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. The study concluded that many fertility centres in the United Kingdom offer a range of add-ons in addition to standard in-vitro fertilisation procedures and, for many, claims of benefit are made. However, in most cases, the claims are not quantified and evidence is not cited to support the claims. The review concludes that there is a need for more information on add-ons to be made available by fertility clinics to support well-informed treatment decisions.

The care offered in licensed fertility clinics is primarily a matter for the national regulator, the HFEA. The HFEA currently publishes information for patients about some add-on procedures and is committed to introducing a simple labelling system on its new website to highlight the risks and benefits of a wide range of treatment add-ons.