Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to ratify and implement the Council of Europe Convention against trafficking in human organs signed on 23 March 2015.

The United Kingdom formally signed the Council of Europe Convention on Organ Trafficking on 25 March 2015 and has legislation in place to ensure consent is always provided to prevent organ trafficking. The Government also supports the 2008 Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism, which encourages all countries to draw up legal and professional frameworks to govern organ donation and transplantation activities.

When the UK signed the convention, it did so on the basis that it reserved the right not to apply the jurisdiction rules laid down in paragraph 1.d and e of Article 10 of the convention. There are no current plans to ratify the convention.