Written questions by McNally.

What his Department's timetable is for responding to the joint report of the Law Commissions of England and Wales and Scotland entitled Building families through surrogacy: a new law, published on 28 March 2023.

The Government does not intend to put forward the Law Commissions’ legislative proposals at this current time, due to the limited time available for introducing new legislation. However, we will publish a Government response as time and capacity allows, and will look to consider this issue in the future.

Whether he plans to respond to the report by the Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission entitled Building families through surrogacy: a new law, published on 28 March 2023, HC 1237, and draft bill.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health will be meeting with the Law Commission shortly to discuss its report and draft bill on surrogacy, and to inform consideration of the Government’s next steps.

What discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on co-operation on research funding for motor neurone disease.

The Department funds research into motor neurone disease (MND) via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Government funding for MND research includes programmes that are working collaboratively across the United Kingdom. For example, an £8 million investment into the EXPErimental medicine Route To Success in ALS (EXPERTS-ALS) by the NIHR. EXPERTS-ALS is an early phase clinical research trial which screens for drugs that have the potential to be successful in clinical trials for people with MND. Government funders have also invested £12.5 million to support the best discovery science at the UK Dementia Research Institute. Working with LifeArc, the MND Association, MND Scotland, and the My Name5s Doddie foundation, Government funders have also contributed £1.1 million to the £4.6 million MND Collaborative Partnership. Department research leads meet regularly with their counterparts in the devolved administrations to discuss research matters of common interest across the UK.