§ Mr. John Mooreasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what are the criteria applied by the National Health Service to determine who should receive and who should be refused vasectomies and female sterilisations;
(2) what is the cost to the National Health Service, including all hospital, nursing and profession charges of (a) a vasectomy and (b) a female sterilisation;
(3) in the last full year for which records are available, how many (a) vasectomies and (b) female sterilisations were performed in the following area health authorities: West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Kent, Croydon, Barnet and Camden and Islington;
(4) what was the length of the waiting list on 1st March 1978 for (a) vasectomies and (b) female sterilisations, in the following area health authorities: West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Kent, Croydon, Barnet and Camden and Islington.
§ Mr. MoyleThe decision whether a man or woman should be sterilised is a matter for clinical judgment.
146WIn the memorandum of guidance on the Family Planning Service issued to health authorities in May 1974, the Department's advice was that sterilisation for men and women should be available under the NHS both for medical and family planning reasons, where it is the method of choice after full consultation between patient and doctor.
No information is available centrally on numbers of female sterilisations; on the numbers of vasectomies carried out in NHS hospitals; or on the cost of male or female sterilisations. However, the number of vasectomies carried out in NHS family planning clinics in 1976 were as follows:
Area Health Authority West Midlands Hereford & Worcester 133 Salop 138 Birmingham 1,097 Sandwell 1,126 Solihull 149 2,643 West Yorkshire Calderdale 27 Kirklees 88 Wakefield 18 133 Kent Nil Croydon 579 Barnet Nil Camden and Islington 303 Information about waiting lists is collected by specialty and not by diagnosis; it is therefore not possible to provide information about the length of waiting lists for vasectomies and female sterlisations.