Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the safety of fertility apps for their users.

No formal assessment has been made of fertility apps and no steps are being taken to regulate them. Fertility apps are privately owned health apps, and as such they do not share data directly with the Department.

Where fertility apps meet the definition of a medical device, the safety of these products already falls under the remit of the United Kingdom’s medical device regulations and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Examples of products that would fall within the remit of these regulations would be apps intended to facilitate conception and enable contraception based on basal body temperature.

Patients looking for fertility advice should speak to their general practitioner or a licensed fertility clinic. They can also find unbiased information on fertility treatments and UK licenced clinics on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s website, at the following link:

www.hfea.gov.uk