§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can confirm that, as stated by the Minister on 14th February 1995 (HC Deb., col. 910), "The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) keeps a register of all children born as a result of [IVF] techniques", and whether there has been in operation a medical and psychological follow-up "all these children", and if so why its results have not been published.
Baroness Cumberlege: From 1988 the Interim Licensing Authority, and from 1 August 1991 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have kept registers of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, including information about children born as a result of IVF treatment.
The summary of The Report of the Medical Research Council Working Party on Children Conceived by IVF by Pat Doyle and Valerie Beral, was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ 1990, 300: 1229–33). A study comparing the family relationships of children aged about 7 and born as a result of donor insemination or IVF or by normal means or adopted, was published in December in the 1993 Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology 14 (Special Issue) Quality of Parenting in Families Created by the New Reproductive Technologies: A Brief Report of Preliminary Findings 59WA (S. Golombok, R. Cook, A. Bish and C. Murray.). Copies of the documents are available in the Library.