Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 8 January (HL1277), why advice from third parties, including that from abortion providers, was not sought prior to the decision not to release the abortion statistics comparing data from the Department of Health and Social Care’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics on an annual basis; and what was the evidential rationale for that decision.

To consider the completeness of abortion complications data submitted via abortion notifications, the Department committed to publishing a one-time analysis comparing data from its Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics. The Department is inviting views from third parties on abortion statistics for England and Wales, including the future publication of abortion complications data, via an online user engagement survey as well as via email. We welcome responses from abortion providers and all interested parties on this matter.