HL Deb 07 December 1989 vol 513 cc1115-6WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What financial resources from

  1. (a) National Health Service/Medical Research Council and
  2. (b) other sources
are currently devoted to
  1. (i) research into infertility and its causes
  2. (ii) therapy for the infertile and what proportion, in each case, involves in vitro fertilisation/embryo transplant.

Baroness Hooper

The Medical Research Council is the main agency through which the Government support medical research. The council spent £2.3 million on research specifiying into infertility in the financial year 1988–89 and also supports a range of basic research which may be of relevance to infertility. Additionally, research on infertility may be pursued by university departments and medical schools with support from the University Funding Council block grants, and by health authorities; information on this is not collected centrally. Information on individual treatments is not held centrally.