Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the reasons why over 4,100 women from the most deprived deciles of multiple deprivation have donated their eggs in return for payment of £750 since 2011.

The Department does not plan to undertake an assessment, however, academic research in the United Kingdom has consistently found that donating eggs and sperm is driven by altruism.

The compensation rate for egg donation is set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as provided for in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA has advised that the donor compensation levels originally set in 2011 followed a thorough ethical review, which identified a set of principles that ensured altruism remained at the heart of donation and that there weren’t any unjustifiable barriers to donation.

HFEA published data shows that egg and sperm donors in England from 2011 to 2020 lived in similar or more affluent socio-economic areas than the general population.

The HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee recently reviewed the published evidence of health outcomes for those having fertility treatment, including egg donors. The last 10 years of evidence were reviewed and the HFEA will update the relevant information on its website as needed.