Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many human eggs (oocytes) were harvested and frozen by vitrification between 2014 and 2019 for social purposes such as the preservation of a woman’s fertility; of this number, how many of these eggs (1) were thawed in order to undertake clinical in vitro fertilisation, (2) did not thaw satisfactorily, and (3) underwent attempts at fertilisation with or without ICSI.

This information is not held in the format requested. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it does not hold information on the method of freezing or the reasons the eggs were frozen during this period. While the HFEA collects data on egg storage, data on the method of freezing, the reasons the eggs were frozen or whether eggs did not thaw satisfactorily is not held.

The following table shows the number of eggs collected for patients’ own use in egg storage from 2014 to 2019.

Source: The HFEA

Notes:

1. Harvested and frozen has been interpreted to be eggs stored.
2. Due to the way data is stored, the HFEA has advised that it cannot easily link egg storage cycles with a high degree of accuracy. Data is therefore provided as total eggs thawed or fertilised within the required period, rather than a subset of eggs stored.
3. The data is as shown on the HFEA’s register database on 20 October 2022. This is a live database so these figures reflect the data on this day and are likely to change over time. Data shown includes only egg storage for patients own use.