Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve the enforcement of NICE guidance related to IVF treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guideline is advisory but clinical commissioning groups are expected to have regard to it when making decisions on commissioning fertility services for their community.

I wrote to the National Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, on 10 February 2017 to ask that NHS England re-emphasise to all those involved in commissioning fertility services that they should have regard to the NICE fertility guideline as it currently stands.