Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 20 May (WA 318), how often the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) considers inspection reports and progress reports in order to ensure that the proposed research covered by a licence remains necessary or desirable for one of the prescribed purposes and to ensure that the use of an embryo remains necessary in pursuing aims as understood by the HFEA's peer reviewers; and whether there are exceptions.
Answer
I have been advised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that when applying to the HFEA for a research licence applicants are required to provide, along with the objectives of the research and other information, justification for the creation and/or use of embryos. Two peer reviews are sought for initial licence applications and the HFEA Executive carries out an onsite inspection. A research licence committee, which consists of members of the authority, will consider this information when deciding whether the proposed research is necessary or desirable for one of the prescribed purposes, and therefore whether or not to grant an initial licence. Following the grant of a research licence, further inspections are undertaken periodically and those inspections reports are considered by a research licence committee. Licensed research centres are required to submit progress reports to the HFEA annually (or six monthly for stem cell research) outlining the research undertaken to date and how this relates to the objectives. When applying to the HFEA for the renewal of a research licence, centres are required to outline how the work undertaken related to the objectives of the original application and how the work they propose to carry out relates to the work since the research licence was granted or since the centre's previously submitted progress report. The research licence committee refers to the renewal application, latest inspection report, latest progress report and one peer review when deciding whether the research remains necessary or desirable for one of the prescribed purposes, and therefore whether to renew a licence. There are no exceptions to this method of assessment.