Question
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 7 January (WA 151) regarding how the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is discharging its duties, how the HFEA have accounted for alleged discrepancies in the numbers of eggs used for research, given that a letter from the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on 13 December 2007 states that the trust cannot comment on such information forwarded by the HFEA, and in light of a newspaper report on 8 January stating that the person responsible ““was unwilling to reveal the number of eggs that have been taken to date””.
Answer
All centres licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to carry out research have to submit six monthly and annual reports to the authority. These contain information on the number of embryos created and/or used in research during that time period. This information is subsequently checked during the annual inspection. In the case of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the HFEA has informed me that it has found no differences in the numbers reported and the information obtained during inspection. The HFEA has also informed me that it holds no information on compliance with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines by the centre described, but not named, in Human Fertility (Volume 10, Issue 3: pages 183-7).