Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]

I am very disappointed to have to state that I will have great difficulty in supporting the programme motion this afternoon. I chair the House's all-party fertility group, and am well aware that the community of people outside the House who have serious problems conceiving are looking to the Bill for support. However, the Bill makes no mention of access to NHS facilities—something that was discussed in full in the other place. There, the subject was given a very fair run, but we in this House are not allowed to discuss it. The Bill focuses on the regulation of IVF treatment and research, and makes no mention of the many other treatments that infertile people can access. The founding principle of the NHS was that people could receive treatment at the point of need, but most people with infertility problems have to go to private clinics, where IVF is the only treatment on offer. They often have to pay for that treatment by remortgaging their homes. I am seriously disappointed that we will have no chance to discuss these issues. I tabled an amendment in the hope that it might be selected for debate, but it has not. I shall have great difficulty in supporting the programme motion this afternoon.