Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk presented by unregulated private pregnancy scans; what actions they plan to take on the issue; and what other consideration they have given to strengthening consumer and health protections on private medical testing, particularly the use of tests not used by the NHS.

The Government has not conducted a formal assessment of the risk presented by private pregnancy scans.

Sonography, the use of diagnostic and screening procedures that use ultrasound to examine the body, is a regulated activity in England under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This means that any organisation providing pregnancy scans in England, including those carried out in the private sector, must register their services with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and meet certain legal obligations.

A list of registered providers is available on the CQC website.