Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to P.Q. v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2026), what assessment he has made of whether the current system for determining reasonable expenses in surrogacy arrangements provides sufficient safeguards against surrogacy becoming commercialised, in the context of the absence of a statutory limit on payments to surrogates.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increased financial payments in surrogacy arrangements on the rights and welfare of children born through those arrangements.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take to ensure that women are not coerced and unduly pressured into becoming surrogates.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential risk that women experiencing financial hardship could be disproportionately represented among women acting as surrogates under the proposed reforms.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to legal parenthood in surrogacy arrangements on the level of disputes between surrogates and intended parents.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds information on the long-term welfare outcomes of children born through surrogacy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed surrogacy reforms on the commercialisation of surrogacy.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No such assessments have been made, but on the wider issues raised, the Government continues to support surrogacy as a part of assisted conception options, to help people who have difficulty starting their own family. The Department has published guidance on the care of surrogates and intended parents in surrogate births, available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on the role of the Office for the Internal Market in monitoring any regulatory divergence arising from proposed European Union food supplement legislation.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 8 September in response to Question 20033.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many parental order applications in each of the last 10 years involved payments to a surrogate which exceeded what the court considered to be reasonable expenses, and in how many such cases the additional payments were authorised retrospectively.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to support timely access to effective treatments for people with rare and progressive diseases.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided on 22 September in response to Question 29295.