Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has (a) taken and (b) plans to take to ensure that abortion clinics (i) report cases of suspected sexual abuse and exploitation, (ii) flag cases of underage girls being brought to their clinic for an abortion by the same unrelated adult and (iii) ensure that consent is properly obtained from minors; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
All abortion providers must comply with legal requirements and have regard to any statutory guidance relating to safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All providers must have policies and protocols in place for dealing with these groups. Health professionals are required to be competent in child protection and are expected to participate in regular training to update their skills. All clinical staff working in abortion services should be trained to at least level 3 of the intercollegiate framework, Safeguarding Children and Young people: roles and competences for health care staff. Providers should have protocols in place for obtaining consent and pathways and support for all women who lack capacity to consent. Officials meet regularly with abortion service providers and discuss a range of issues.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of abortion clinics licenced by his Department on ensuring that those clinics (a) report cases of suspected sexual abuse and exploitation, (b) flag cases of underage girls being brought to their clinic for abortion by the same unrelated adult, (c) ensure that consent is provided in writing by minors; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
All abortion providers must comply with legal requirements and have regard to any statutory guidance relating to safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All providers must have policies and protocols in place for dealing with these groups. Health professionals are required to be competent in child protection and are expected to participate in regular training to update their skills. All clinical staff working in abortion services should be trained to at least level 3 of the intercollegiate framework, Safeguarding Children and Young people: roles and competences for health care staff. Providers should have protocols in place for obtaining consent and pathways and support for all women who lack capacity to consent. Officials meet regularly with abortion service providers and discuss a range of issues.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s guidance allowing misoprostol to be taken at home, what steps he has (a) taken and (b) plans to take in the next six months to ensure that (i) misoprostol is only given to the woman who wish to use it, and (ii) there is appropriate screening to ensure women are not being compelled to take misoprostol against their will; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Medical abortion is a two-stage process which requires the administration of Mifepristone followed by Misoprostol to successfully complete the procedure. Misoprostol can only prescribed for home use when the woman has requested an early medical abortion and given her informed consent after being assessed by two doctors as meeting the legal grounds for termination of pregnancy as set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The first stage, Mifepristone, must continue to be administered in an National Health Service hospital or an approved independent sector clinic.
Safeguards are in place under the Department’s required standard operating procedures (RSOPs) for independent sector abortion providers to identify women and young girls who may feel coerced or endangered and enable them to raise their concerns in confidence. Guidance produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists outlines best clinical practice for medical abortion at home and safeguarding vulnerable women and young girls and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations his Department has allocated funding to for the provision of abortions in each of the last 30 years; how much funding was allocated to each organisation; and how many abortions were performed by those organisations.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Abortion services in England are funded locally by clinical commissioning groups. The Department does not collect information on the funding individual organisations receive. Funding is also provided for independent sector and National Health Service organisations for the Northern Ireland Abortion Scheme.
To provide information on the number of abortions performed by individual organisations over the last 30 years would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 1 April 2014, Official Report, column WA177-8 and the Answer of 22 November 2016, Official Report, column, HL3075, how many families have been assisted by mitochondrial donation techniques in the past year; how many human embryos were deliberately destroyed in the course of attempting pronuclear transfer for which figures are available since the technique was first licensed for clinical application; how many human embryos were generated following spindle-chromosomal complex transfer for which figures are available since the technique was first licensed for clinical application; and how many live births there have been in the UK as a result of (a) pronuclear transfer and (b) spindle-chromosomal complex transfer.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
All applications for use of mitochondrial donation techniques are considered by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). 15 applications were received between 1 August 2017 and 31 January 2019, of which 14 were approved.
The HFEA has advised that eight embryos have been discarded since pronuclear transfer was first licensed for clinical application.
No human embryos have been generated following spindle-chromosomal complex transfer since the technique was first licensed.
There have been no live births in the United Kingdom to date following pronuclear transfer or spindle-chromosomal complex transfer.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many human eggs, that were frozen have been (a) thawed, (b) been fertilised in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many of those eggs were (i) developed into embryos and (ii) transferred to a recipient uterus; and of those transferred to a uterus, how many resulted in (A) live births, (B) early pregnancy losses and (C) stillbirths.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested is shown in the following table.
Year of cycle: 2017 | |
Eggs thawed | 5,824 |
Eggs fertilised | 4,696 |
Embryos created | 3,270 |
Embryos transferred | 748 |
Live births | 202 |
Early pregnancy losses | 19 |
Stillbirths | Less than 5 |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
The data is as shown on the HFEA’s register database on 9 April 2019. This is a live database so these figures reflect the data on this day are likely to change over time.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many human embryos were discarded in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many human embryos were transferred to uteri in order to establish pregnancies; and what the cumulative figures are for those procedures were made legal.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2017 | Between 1 August 1991 and 31 December 2017 |
Embryos discarded in the course of treatment, or subsequent to having been taken out of storage | 174,622 embryos | 2,753,560 embryos |
Embryos transferred to uteri in order to establish pregnancies | 84,004 embryos | 1,900,901 embryos |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
The data is as shown on the HFEA’s register database on 9 April 2019. This is a live database so these figures reflect the data on this day are likely to change over time.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the medical conditions are for which interspecies nuclear transfer has provided the first effective treatments; and how many admixed human embryo have been produced in each year since the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
There are no medical conditions for which interspecies nuclear transfer has provided effective treatments.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that, in 2008, 155 admixed embryos were produced in a HFEA licensed research project. No admixed embryos have been produced in HFEA licensed research projects in any other year to date.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many embryos produced without the direct intention of establishing pregnancies were transferred to uteri between 1 August 1991 and 31 December 2017; what techniques were used to produce embryos that were transferred; how affected patients were informed of this at the time; and what sanctions were imposed on the clinics responsible.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that there were no embryos produced without the direct intention of establishing pregnancies transferred to uteri between 1 August 1991 and 31 December 2017.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2019 to Question 217544 on Spina Bifida: Surgery, if his Department will make it its policy to provide pain relief to unborn babies of a similar age undergoing a termination.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department does not set clinical practice. To support clinical practice, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has considered the issue of fetal pain and awareness in its guidelines ‘The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion’ and ‘Fetal Awareness: Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice’, which are available at the following links:
https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/abortion-guideline_web_1.pdf
https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/rcogfetalawarenesswpr0610.pdf