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23 November 2011

Summary of request

The Authority was asked for information about the number of new sperm donor registrations required in the UK each year to meet demand for treatment involving donated sperm, whether there has been a shortfall in supply since the removal of donor anonymity in 2005 and whether there are any cases of sperm donors being untruthful to centres about their own or their family medical history.

HFEA response

With regards to the number of new sperm donor registrations required in the UK  each year to meet demand for treatment involving donated sperm, the British Fertility Society (BFS) Working Party on Sperm Donation Services in the UK stated in their 2008 Report and Recommendations that a minimum of 500 sperm donors were required per annum to meet demand. For any further information about this estimate I would recommend contacting the BFS directly.

The HFEA is aware that demand for donor treatment in the UK is greater than the supply of donors, which has been an issue since the HFEA was established in 1991. It is often argued that the shortage was exacerbated by the removal of anonymity by Parliament in 2005, however, the number of new sperm donors registering in the UK increased during the years following 2005, which you can see in statistics published by the HFEA on its website at: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/3411.html.

With regards to sperm donor medical and family history, such cases may not have been discovered by centres and the cases would not necessarily have been reported to the HFEA. To give some context, the HFEA provides guidance to licensed centres in the HFEA Code of Practice on collecting donor medical history, including situations where there is evidence of deception (sections 11.8-10 at http://www.hfea.gov.uk/498.html#guidanceSection4295). If centres had reported such cases to the HFEA, the information would most likely be held in the HFEA’s incident reporting system since 2003, correspondence with centres prior to 2003 or centre inspection reports.

Please note that a search of these records could not firmly discount such a case existed and would very likely exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 ('the Regulations').  This limit is £450 and for the purposes of estimating cost, staff time is calculated at notional rate of £25 per hour. Section 12 of the FOIA allows public authorities to decline to provide information requested under the FOIA where the cost of doing so would exceed this appropriate limit. However, the HFEA is not aware of such legal action in the UK, however, unless the HFEA was a party to such legal action it would not necessarily come to our attention. The Parties more likely to be involved in any such legal cases are patients, donors and the clinics. 

Page last updated: 16 August 2012

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