Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer 21 May 2018 to Questions 144263 and 144264 on In Vitro Fertilisation, for what reason his Department does not collect information on IVF provision centrally; and what assessment he has made of the effect of not holding that information centrally on (a) women seeking IVF and (b) the ability of his Department's to analyse the provision and resourcing of fertility treatment options available in England.

Information about individual clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) local commissioning approach to fertility services has never been collected by the Department. NHS England is the national body which has oversight of the functions of the National Health Service commissioning system in England. It is for NHS England to consider what data is necessary for it to undertake this role most effectively, taking account of the burden of data collection on CCGs.

Information collected by Fertility Fairness, through Freedom of Information requests, does show a disappointing reduction in the number of CCGs offering the full recommendations of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Fertility Guidance. The Government has been clear that CCGs should take full account of the NICE Fertility guidelines when considering the assessment and treatment of fertility problems for their local population, as this represents the best evidence of clinical effectiveness.

CCGs are accountable to NHS England, which has a key role to ensure that CCGs, as statutory organisations, deliver the best possible services and outcomes for patients within their financial allocation. CCGs have a statutory responsibility to commission services which meet the needs of their local population. CCGs have to make difficult decisions about commissioning cost-effective care, but they do this based on patient needs and clinical evidence. We expect NHS England to ensure the CCG is not breaching its statutory responsibility to provide services that meet the needs of the local population.