Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to review the laws relating to surrogacy.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has no current plans to review the legislation relating to surrogacy but is keeping this issue under consideration.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the costs and risks borne by the NHS with regard to multiple births resulting from multiple embryo transfer in private fertility treatment, of whether savings could be made by funding single embryo transfers on the NHS.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has not made an assessment of the potential savings to the National Health Service from the use of single embryo transfer in fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Multiple births present significant health risks to mothers and babies. Over recent years, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has worked to drive down multiple birth rates whilst maintaining consistent treatment success rates.
To minimise the risk of multiple pregnancies, there has been a growing trend for IVF providers to only transfer one embryo, even when more are available, in patients who have a good chance of successful treatment. Elective single embryo transfer is the most effective way of reducing multiple pregnancies. The HFEA has advised that most clinics have shown significant progress in reducing multiple births without compromising pregnancy rates. In 2008 nearly one in four IVF births resulted in a multiple birth but now, with a concerted multiple births reduction policy, this number is one in six.
Although progress has been made, this number is still higher than the rate in conceptions that do not involve assisted reproduction treatment. The overall goal is to reduce multiple births to one in 10.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which government department, NHS organisation or body is currently responsible for commissioning carrier screening services for (1) Tay Sachs disease, (2) Familial Dysautonomia and Canavan disease, and (3) other severe inherited genetic disorders, in at risk populations without an established family history.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK National Screening Committee makes recommendations on whole population screening programmes. It is for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence or its accredited guideline producing bodies to recommend care and testing of people at high risk.
NHS England has commissioning arrangements in place for carrier testing for Tay Sachs disease for at risk populations. Genetic testing will be undertaken where there is a known family history, which indicates a risk of the specific condition or in response to the individual’s clinical symptoms. In the absence of a family history or clinical symptoms it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups based on their local needs as to whether they fund referrals to clinical genetics for carrier screening for Tay Sachs disease.
Genomics offers a great opportunity to improve our insight into genetic diseases. It is for this reason that the Government launched a world-leading project to sequence 100,000 genomes from National Health Service patients and established Genomics England, a subsidiary of the Department, to deliver the project.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which government department or organisation or body in the National Health Service is currently responsible for setting or determining the national policy for carrier screening for (1) Tay Sachs disease, (2) Familial Dysautonomia and Canavan disease, and (3) other severe inherited genetic disorders, in at risk populations without an established family history.
Answered by Earl Howe - Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The UK National Screening Committee makes recommendations on whole population screening programmes. It is for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence or its accredited guideline producing bodies to recommend care and testing of people at high risk.
NHS England has commissioning arrangements in place for carrier testing for Tay Sachs disease for at risk populations. Genetic testing will be undertaken where there is a known family history, which indicates a risk of the specific condition or in response to the individual’s clinical symptoms. In the absence of a family history or clinical symptoms it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups based on their local needs as to whether they fund referrals to clinical genetics for carrier screening for Tay Sachs disease.
Genomics offers a great opportunity to improve our insight into genetic diseases. It is for this reason that the Government launched a world-leading project to sequence 100,000 genomes from National Health Service patients and established Genomics England, a subsidiary of the Department, to deliver the project.