Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure access to IVF treatment in line with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Clinical Guideline 156 in (a) Peterborough and (b) across all clinical commissioning group areas.

The level of provision of local health services available to patients, including fertility treatment, is, and has been since the 1990s, a matter for local healthcare commissioners, who must consider the needs and priorities of all their population. Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to commission healthcare services that meet the needs of their whole population, including fertility services.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s guidance for commissioners is a new tool to help them implement National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence Fertility Guidelines and use the benchmark price for treatments.

On 5 November 2019 I wrote to the Chief Executives of the five CCGs in England that do not currently offer routine access to fertility treatment, including Cambridge and Peterborough CCG, making clear that it is an unacceptable situation for no routine local fertility service to be offered. I also asked them for assurance on what action they are taking to address this issue, how they are utilising the new commissioning guidance and National Health Service benchmark price to support fair and equal access to fertility services, and, how they are ensuring their Public Sector Equality Duty is being met.