Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the implications are for his policies of the recent data for Fertility Fairness on the number of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England offering the recommended three IVF cycles to eligible women under 40 years of age having halved in the last five years and only 12 per cent of all CCGs following national guidance; what assessment he has made of the reasons for that reduction in the number of CCGs offering three cycles and following that guidance; and if he will make a statement.

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.