Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government is taking steps to help prevent transplant tourism by UK nationals.

The Government is taking a number of steps to help prevent commercial transplant tourism by United Kingdom nationals. Last year, we amended the Health and Care Act to make it an offence for residents of Great Britain and most UK nationals to pay for the supply of an organ, pay for an offer to supply an organ, or seek somebody willing to supply an organ for payment anywhere in the world.

The Government is now working closely with NHS Blood and Transplant, the Human Tissue Authority, National Crime Agency, Crown Prosecution Service and others to build the UK’s capacity to identify, investigate and prosecute transplant tourists and anyone else involved in organ trafficking or in the trafficking in persons for their organs. This work, combined with long-term efforts to improve the supply of ethically retrieved organs for transplantation, will help to remove any incentives for UK patients to purchase an organ overseas.