Tomorrow's Children

Review of the HFEA's guidance on Welfare of the Child

The HFEA has recently completed a review of its guidance to clinics on how to interpret the welfare of the child principle laid down in section 13(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

The HFEA gives guidance to clinics on how to go about making a welfare of the child assessment on individuals or couples seeking licensed treatment.

This guidance is contained in Part 3 of the current Code of Practice.

Outcome of the review

The discussions at the consultative meetings and the views in the written responses to the consultation contributed to the evidence base used to make the amendments to the existing guidance to clinics.

Tomorrow's Children (366 Kb)
Report of the review

Revised guidance (51 Kb)
Welfare of the Child and information sections of the Code of Practice

What you need to know about the welfare of the child assessment (32 Kb)
This patient leaflet gives information on the welfare of the child assessment carried out before the start of treatment

Press Release - 'Improved welfare checks system will be better, fairer and clearer for fertility patients, GPs and clinics'

Consultation

A public consultation document, Tomorrow's Children, was open to responses between January and April 2005. The document laid out a number of options for revising the welfare of the child guidance and sought responses to the options.

Consultation document  (241 Kb)
Tomorrow's Children

Public consultative meetings were held during February and March in Westminster, Glasgow, London and Manchester.

Consultative meeting report
Glasgow (82.70 Kb)

Consultative meeting report
London (82 Kb)

Consultative meeting report
Manchester (72 Kb)

For more information about any aspect of the review, please contact:

Juliet Tizzard, Policy Manager
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
21 Bloomsbury Street
London WC1B 3HF
Tel: 020 7291 8232
Fax: 020 7291 8201
Email: juliet.tizzard@hfea.gov.uk
Last updated: 2 November 2005