Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking in Human Organs.

The United Kingdom strongly supports the core aims of the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Organs and meets these through existing legislation which sets out that in the UK valid consent must always be received before an organ transplant proceeds and that no organ transplant may take place for financial gain. The convention has not yet been ratified and further detailed work would be required before this could take place. This would be to ensure that our domestic law and practice, including in the devolved administrations, meets the procedural and other requirements of the convention.