The latest position on these statistics has been set out on the relevant webpage on the GOV.UK website, and is reproduced below for ease of reference:

“The Abortion statistics for England and Wales 2024 publication is delayed due to several operational issues. These include several technical challenges that have significantly reduced our ability to process paper HSA4 notifications efficiently. This coincided with an increase in the overall number of abortion notifications the Department receives each year.

Together, these factors have created a backlog of data that still requires processing and quality assurance. The data is being validated but the resulting delays to the publication timetable have impacted the timeliness of the now published 2023 statistics and continue to delay publication of 2024 and 2025 statistics.

The Department of Health and Social Care is currently working to deliver an improved service for collecting abortion notifications, designed to support more efficient processing of abortion data and enable more timely publications.

The statistics will be published once the required processing and quality assurance checks have been completed. We will announce the date for publication of the 2024 statistics in due course.”

The information requested on payments is not collected centrally. Although integrated care boards publish monthly transparency data on payments, including payments to BPAS, MSI Reproductive Choices, and NUPAS, this only relates to payments exceeding £25,000.

The latest position on these statistics has been set out on the relevant webpage on the GOV.UK website, and is reproduced below for ease of reference:

“The Abortion statistics for England and Wales 2024 publication is delayed due to several operational issues. These include several technical challenges that have significantly reduced our ability to process paper HSA4 notifications efficiently. This coincided with an increase in the overall number of abortion notifications the Department receives each year.

Together, these factors have created a backlog of data that still requires processing and quality assurance. The data is being validated but the resulting delays to the publication timetable have impacted the timeliness of the now published 2023 statistics and continue to delay publication of 2024 and 2025 statistics.

The Department of Health and Social Care is currently working to deliver an improved service for collecting abortion notifications, designed to support more efficient processing of abortion data and enable more timely publications.

The statistics will be published once the required processing and quality assurance checks have been completed. We will announce the date for publication of the 2024 statistics in due course.”

The information requested on payments is not collected centrally. Although integrated care boards publish monthly transparency data on payments, including payments to BPAS, MSI Reproductive Choices, and NUPAS, this only relates to payments exceeding £25,000.

The Government is committed to protecting freedom of expression and religion, while ensuring that individuals can access abortion services without harassment or intimidation.

The legislation does not specify particular behaviours which are permissible or not permissible in safe access zone. It is for the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, who are operationally independent of Government, to determine whether conduct meets the threshold for an offence in the circumstances of a particular case.

The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance which explains that activities such as vigils or silent prayer could fall within the scope of the offence depending on the intent and circumstances of the case. Operational guidance to police forces on the policing of safe access zones is provided by the College of Policing.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has not issued any guidance on whether silent prayer is permissible in a safe access zone by an abortion clinic. I refer the Honourable Member to the answers given to Questions UIN 96563 and UIN 97804.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has published guidance on the offence stated under Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023, which is available in Annex A of Offences during Protests, Demonstrations or Campaigns | The Crown Prosecution Service. Further information is available at Abortion service protection zones in place in England and Wales - GOV.UK. Arrest and charging decisions will always remain a matter for the operationally independent police and CPS. They make decisions about how to respond to specific incidents based on their professional judgement and the circumstances at hand.

The information requested on dopamine agonists is not held centrally nor held in the format requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Dopamine agonists encompass a range of medicines authorised for the management of Parkinson’s disease, restless legs syndrome and endocrine disorders in the United Kingdom.

The product information approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are designed to support safe use of the medicine by providing essential information and supporting discussions between patients and the healthcare professionals providing their care.

The MHRA continuously monitors the safety of medicines on the UK market to ensure that warnings and side-effects listed in the product information accurately reflect the available data. The MHRA is currently reviewing whether further action is needed to raise awareness of the existing warnings about impulse control disorders with dopamine agonists.

The Government is committed to protecting freedom of expression and religion, while ensuring that individuals can access abortion services without harassment or intimidation.

Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), introduced under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, are made by local authorities to address specific issues in a defined area. The application of PSPOs, including around abortion facilities, is therefore a matter for local authorities.

On 31 October 2024, section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 came into force, introducing safe access zones around abortion clinics in England and Wales. Within these zones, certain conduct, including behaviour intended to influence, obstruct or cause harassment or distress, is an offence.

More broadly, individuals are free to pray in public spaces, including public squares, subject to the general law. Any restrictions must be lawful, necessary and proportionate, and decisions on enforcement are for the police and courts.

All women in England and Wales should have access to safe, regulated abortions on the National Health Service under our current laws.

Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, and abortion providers are required to have effective arrangements in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults accessing their services. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained to recognise the signs of potential abuse and coercion and know how to respond.

As part of standards set by the Care Quality Commission, abortion services must be able to prove that they have processes in place to ensure that all women and girls are seeking services voluntarily. The Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures also require staff to be able to identify those who require more support than can be provided in the routine abortion service setting, including where there is evidence of coercion.

Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 introduced Safe Access Zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales meaning that it is illegal for anyone to do anything that intentionally or recklessly influences someone’s decision to use abortion services, obstructs them, or causes harassment or distress to someone using or working at these premises. The law applies within a 150 metre radius of the abortion service provider.

All privacy notices will be reviewed and updated, if required, to reflect any changes to the technical infrastructure that supports the collection and processing of abortion data.

In line with the Department’s required standard operating procedures (RSOPs) for the approval of independent sector abortion clinics, abortion providers should make women aware of how the contents of the statutory HSA4 form sent to the Chief Medical Officer will be used and shared by the Department. The RSOPs include a suggested privacy notice to share with anyone undergoing abortion care which provides a clear understanding of what data is shared with the Department, the legal basis for collecting their data, and how the Department will manage their data.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women acting in relation to their own pregnancies. However, it does not change the Abortion Act 1967, statutory reporting of abortions to the Chief Medical Officer, or the provision of lawful abortion services.

The solution is being designed following UK Government guidance for building and managing digital services, including but not limited to Government Digital Service standards, the National Cyber Security Centre Cyber Assessment Framework, and Departmental data protection policies. By following this approach, the Department is identifying, recording, escalating, and/or mitigating risks to ensure identifiable data is being stored, accessed, and managed in-line with standards outlined above.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 disapplies the criminal offences related to abortion from women acting in relation to their own pregnancies. However, it does not change the Abortion Act 1967 or the provision of lawful abortion services. Therefore, there was not a need to review the procurement specification for the Abortion Notification Service.

There are no sub-processors on the relevant contract to deliver a new Abortion Notification Service. We are not currently expecting to approve any sub-processors under this contract.

The Department requires that the new service being built to collect and process abortion data includes a secure location to store frozen data extracts, namely datasets that have been locked to prevent further modifications, that can be accessed by the Abortion Statistics Team to prepare statistical publications. The detailed technical approach is still being worked through.

The structure of the datasets is still to be finalised but will be stored in a structured format that supports the Statistics Team. Further information on data collection practices are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales-2023/guide-to-abortion-statistics-england-and-wales-2023#data-collection-and-quality

Any access to identifiable data given will be based on a ‘least privilege’ access model, which means data access is limited to the minimum necessary for someone to carry out their prescribed duties.