Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that polygenic screening carried out overseas is not used in embryo selection in British in vitro fertilisation clinics.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is the United Kingdom wide regulator of fertility treatment. Pre-implantation genetic testing for polygenic disease is unlawful for use in the UK, as it does not meet the criteria set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act for genetic testing. The law is very clear that the testing of embryos can only be carried out if there is a significant risk that a person with the abnormality will have or develop a serious physical or mental disability, a serious illness, or any other serious medical condition.

HFEA licensed clinics in the UK are responsible for selecting embryos based on what is permitted in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act and, therefore, should not offer such testing and subsequent treatment.