Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 12 November (WA 141) and 22 November (WA 263), which licensedcentre was primarily responsible for the data in the journal Human Fertility (volume 10, issue 3, pages 183–7) which were previously presented to members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) at the HFEA Research Licence Committee Meeting on 14 September 2006; and what percentage of the reported cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome that were considered to be adverse incidents had been reported as such to the HFEA by the same centre.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the centre, at which the data published in the Human Fertility paper originated, is not identified in papers presented to the research licence committee. As the paper contains details of the particular clinical treatment of two individuals, the HFEA has also advised that it considers that confirming the identity of the centre could result in a breach of Section 33A of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, which protects the confidentiality of people to whom treatment services are provided. In relation to the reporting of cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome to the HFEA, the authority has advised that it has nothing to add to my Answer of 22 November 2010, Official Report, col. WA 263.