HL Deb 07 December 1989 vol 513 c1115WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the cost of monitoring the well-being of babies born in vitro/embryo transplant, and of their mothers.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hooper)

This information is not held centrally. The health of these babies is monitored through the same surveillance programmes as those for babies conceived in the normal way.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the cost per healthy baby born by IVF/ET as a percentage of—

  1. (a) all infertility therapy, and
  2. (b) all in vitro fertilisation/embryo transplant work; and

What are the current figures for women on whom in vitro fertilisation/embryo transplant is—

  1. (a) attempted,
  2. (b) successful in producing a healthy child.

Baroness Hooper

This information is not held centrally.

Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether research (and if so where and by whom) involves or has involved experimentation on human embryos.

Baroness Hooper

The Interim Licensing Authority, which is jointly sponsored by the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, has since 1985 approved a number of research projects involving human embryos, brief details of which are given in the authority's annual reports.