§ Sir Trevor SkeetTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prosecutions have been undertaken under the Surrogacy Arrangements Act for negotiating commercial arrangements contrary to section 2.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyNone.
§ Sir Trevor SkeetTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what records and information he has of the surrogacy arrangements reached between interested parties.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyNone.
§ Sir Trevor SkeetTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether Her Majesty's Government propose any amending legislation to the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985; and whether he is prepared to put into regulations the ethical guidelines issued by the British Medical Association.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently before Parliament contains an amendment to the Surrogacy (Arrangements) Act 1985 to make surrogacy contracts unenforceable, an issue referred to in the ethical guidelines recently issued by the British Medical Association. Matters of this kind are generally best left to codes of practice such as that which clause 25 of the Bill will require the new authority to prepare.