To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many parental order applications in each of the last 10 years involved payments to a surrogate which exceeded what the court considered to be reasonable expenses, and in how many such cases the additional payments were authorised retrospectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many parental order applications in each of the last 10 years involved payments to a surrogate which exceeded what the court considered to be reasonable expenses, and in how many such cases the additional payments were authorised retrospectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce delays, costs and duplication in parental-order proceedings for children born through overseas surrogacy arrangements and to provide greater legal certainty for intended parents while applications are determined.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce delays, costs and duplication in parental-order proceedings for children born through overseas surrogacy arrangements and to provide greater legal certainty for intended parents while applications are determined.

Motion that this House has considered e-petition 763161 relating to surrogacy law and legal parenthood. Agreed to on question.

Motion that this House has considered e-petition 763161 relating to surrogacy law and legal parenthood. Agreed to on question.

I beg to move,

That this House has considered e-petition 763161 relating to surrogacy law and legal parenthood.

It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard, and I am sure today will be no different. The petition calls for a change in the law so that...

I beg to move,

That this House has considered e-petition 763161 relating to surrogacy law and legal parenthood.

It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Pritchard, and I am sure today will be no different. The petition calls for a change in the law so that...

The hon. Gentleman is putting the case very well. There are also very practical hurdles, such as registering the child with a GP, the child’s medical circumstances and applying for a passport. The whole thing is illogical. The practicalities add to the timescale, and it is time that the Government...

The hon. Gentleman is putting the case very well. There are also very practical hurdles, such as registering the child with a GP, the child’s medical circumstances and applying for a passport. The whole thing is illogical. The practicalities add to the timescale, and it is time that the Government...

It is always a pleasure to see the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) in his place in this Chamber. I will touch on health later, so I ask him to hold fire.

It is always a pleasure to see the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) in his place in this Chamber. I will touch on health later, so I ask him to hold fire.

My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time, which I very much appreciate. He and I share the desire for strict rules to prevent abuse of any kind, as I am sure everyone in the House does.

I want to make a point relevant specifically to Scotland. In England,...

My hon. Friend is being very generous with his time, which I very much appreciate. He and I share the desire for strict rules to prevent abuse of any kind, as I am sure everyone in the House does.

I want to make a point relevant specifically to Scotland. In England,...

My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of finance, which I will touch on briefly, so I ask him to bear with me as I get to that part of my speech.

Opponents say that the parental order process is really complex. The document that intended parents have to...

My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of finance, which I will touch on briefly, so I ask him to bear with me as I get to that part of my speech.

Opponents say that the parental order process is really complex. The document that intended parents have to...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I welcome this debate.

As we know, the petition asks for parental orders to be permitted at birth. I believe that Members should approach the proposal with extreme caution. The number of people who have signed the petition—over 113,000, including...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I welcome this debate.

As we know, the petition asks for parental orders to be permitted at birth. I believe that Members should approach the proposal with extreme caution. The number of people who have signed the petition—over 113,000, including...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. In the years since the passage of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act, the number of babies born as a result of surrogacy has increased and the nature of surrogacy arrangements has evolved. As I look through Hansard it appears that,...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. In the years since the passage of the Surrogacy Arrangements Act, the number of babies born as a result of surrogacy has increased and the nature of surrogacy arrangements has evolved. As I look through Hansard it appears that,...

Two of my constituents recently travelled to Mexico, where their children were born by surrogacy. Those births were facilitated by a company called My Surrogacy Journey, which is listed on gov.uk. While in Mexico, they had repeated traumatic experiences with the company relating to issues including insurance for their children,...

Two of my constituents recently travelled to Mexico, where their children were born by surrogacy. Those births were facilitated by a company called My Surrogacy Journey, which is listed on gov.uk. While in Mexico, they had repeated traumatic experiences with the company relating to issues including insurance for their children,...

I agree, and I will come to some of those matters shortly.

It is estimated that the international surrogacy industry will be worth more than $200 billion by 2032. The decisions that we take about surrogacy in the UK can help protect vulnerable women and girls in war-torn countries such as...

I agree, and I will come to some of those matters shortly.

It is estimated that the international surrogacy industry will be worth more than $200 billion by 2032. The decisions that we take about surrogacy in the UK can help protect vulnerable women and girls in war-torn countries such as...

The topic of this debate is a matter of great sensitivity, but I oppose the proposal in the petition. Automatically recognising intended parents as legal parents from birth could remove important safeguards at precisely the moment when a child is most vulnerable.

We should begin with the most important person in...

The topic of this debate is a matter of great sensitivity, but I oppose the proposal in the petition. Automatically recognising intended parents as legal parents from birth could remove important safeguards at precisely the moment when a child is most vulnerable.

We should begin with the most important person in...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Pritchard.

I will begin by recognising the very understandable motivation behind this petition. People who pursue surrogacy do so because they desperately want a family, and nobody should doubt the love that intended parents have for the children they...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Pritchard.

I will begin by recognising the very understandable motivation behind this petition. People who pursue surrogacy do so because they desperately want a family, and nobody should doubt the love that intended parents have for the children they...

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for introducing the debate on this petition on behalf of the Petitions Committee. As the DUP’s health spokesperson, I am particularly interested in advocating for the protection of the...

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for introducing the debate on this petition on behalf of the Petitions Committee. As the DUP’s health spokesperson, I am particularly interested in advocating for the protection of the...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), for opening this debate so thoroughly and thoughtfully. When I read Adam’s petition, I was taken back to the moment that I became a dad....

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank my constituency neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson), for opening this debate so thoroughly and thoughtfully. When I read Adam’s petition, I was taken back to the moment that I became a dad....

My hon. Friend neglected to mention the consent of the mother in his list. Does he agree that that is also of paramount importance?

My hon. Friend neglected to mention the consent of the mother in his list. Does he agree that that is also of paramount importance?

Yes, absolutely. I am making the case that where everybody involved—of course, the mother is paramount in that—is happy with the arrangement and wants to go ahead with it, it could happen ahead of time. My personal belief is that there should be a cooling-off period, even if there is...

Yes, absolutely. I am making the case that where everybody involved—of course, the mother is paramount in that—is happy with the arrangement and wants to go ahead with it, it could happen ahead of time. My personal belief is that there should be a cooling-off period, even if there is...

The hon. Member and I have a great shared interest in fostering and adoption and have spoken about those issues a lot in the past. To clarify, is he saying that there should still be a six-week gap between the birth and the parental order being signed, or that there...

The hon. Member and I have a great shared interest in fostering and adoption and have spoken about those issues a lot in the past. To clarify, is he saying that there should still be a six-week gap between the birth and the parental order being signed, or that there...

I am not a legal expert and do not intend to insert myself into that particular legal debate, but my perspective is that if arrangements are made beforehand and a birth mother changes her mind, there should be a route back to the court and that should be built into...

I am not a legal expert and do not intend to insert myself into that particular legal debate, but my perspective is that if arrangements are made beforehand and a birth mother changes her mind, there should be a route back to the court and that should be built into...