Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 24 February (HL4885), whether the reference to reconciliation work performed on the data by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) indicates that previously supplied figures have been inaccurate; if so, what is the extent to which the HFEA has provided inaccurate information and who accepts responsibility for this; and why the embryos stored for research are not included among the number of embryos allowed to perish if embryos used in research are not allowed to persist beyond 14 days.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that data it has supplied in response to any given question is correct when it is provided. Such data may change slightly over time. The supplied figures were not inaccurate and responsibility for inaccuracy does not, therefore, arise. Embryos stored for research are not, by definition, perished until they are used.