Question
Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 11 July (WA 222-23), whether the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is required only to consider research purposes; and whether it is able to license activities which are explicitly prohibited by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; and
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an independent statutory body established by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA has the responsibility for licensing research projects under this Act. A licence committee of the HFEA can only grant a research licence if it is shown to be necessary or desirable for one of the research purposes in the 1990 Act as amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001. The HFEA issued a research licence to the Newcastle Fertility Centre at LIFE (RO153) following appeal. A summary of the decision-making process is available on the HFEA website at www.hfea.gov.uk. This includes how they defined genetic structure of an embryo and their reasoning for issuing a licence for this specific project. The Human Tissue and Embryos (Draft) Bill contains definitions of various terms. As the Bill amends the 1990 Act, the definitions it contains apply to clauses within the Bill itself and, where appropriate, will apply to the amended 1990 Act. The definitions in the Bill derive from the Government’s extensive review of the law in this area, including through public consultation, and differ from other definitions principally because they have been drawn up for the purpose of the updated legislation.