Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Drayson on 5 May (WA 95–96), whether it remains the case that the provision of financial inducements persuading women to provide eggs for research at Newcastle should not establish a precedent for other cases, as stated in a press statement from the Medical Research Council on 13 September 2007.
Answer
The Medical Research Council (MRC) stated, at the time of confirming an award to the research project "Improving the efficiency of human somatic cell nuclear transfer" to the University of Newcastle, that the award should not establish a precedent for other cases. The project involves the MRC reimbursing part of the treatment costs of women undergoing IVF at the Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life who chose to donate some of the surplus eggs produced to be used in the research. Due to the exceptional nature of this research project the MRC also funded an independent social science study to be undertaken alongside the research project to learn from women's experiences and to inform future research involving egg donation and payment of IVF treatment costs. The study, "An investigation of the experiences of potential in vitro fertilisation (IVF) donors in egg sharing for SCNT", which will provide a robust social and ethical evaluation of the views, values and experiences of those women who choose to donate eggs for research, is expected to end on 30 April 2011.