asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has any details about the number of further surrogate motherhood agency agreements that have been made and the number of surrogate babies that have been born since baby Cotton; and if he will make a statement.

According to recent press reports, the commercial surrogacy agency involved in the case of baby Cotton had been involved in arranging two further surrogate pregnancies, one of which had not yet come to term. We have introduced the Surrogacy Arrangements Bill which, when enacted, will prohibit the operation of commercial surrogacy agencies in this country.