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 implications for his policies of research by Velez et al entitled New-Onset Mental Illness Among Gestational Carriers, published on 25 July 2025.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee reviews the published evidence of health outcomes for those having fertility treatment, including surrogates. The last 10 years of evidence were reviewed in June 2025, and further information on the findings of this review can be found at the following link:

https://www.hfea.gov.uk/about-us/our-authority-committees-and-panels/scientific-and-clinical-advances-advisory-committee-scaac/#hidden-text-3c9ac9c7-54e1-4578-abb2-b49a73b68140-2

The study had not been published at the time of the review and will be included in the next review by the HFEA.