Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the responsibilities of the Care Quality Commission; and what responsibilities discharged by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will be transferred to the Commission following the former's abolition.
Answer
The regulatory framework contained in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, safeguards the status of the human embryo and its use in treatment and research. These safeguards will remain in place regardless of any change in the regulator. This is clear and has been acknowledged by leading assisted reproduction professional bodies and clinicians following Professor Jardine's comments. One of the bodies to whom it is proposed to transfer functions currently carried out by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England and has a key responsibility in the overall assurance of essential levels of safety and quality of health and adult social care services. It also has responsibilities for: providing independent assurance and publishing information on the safety and quality of services; registering providers of regulated activities (including National Health Service, adult social care and independent sector healthcare providers); monitoring compliance with a set of registration requirements; using tough enforcement powers, if necessary, to ensure service providers meet requirements; assessing the performance of providers and commissioners; undertaking special reviews of particular services at a national level, looking across providers and commissioners of health and adult social care; monitoring the use of the Mental Health Act; and helping manage the impact of regulation on service providers and commissioners. Discussions are taking place between the department, HFEA, CQC and other regulatory bodies on the transfer of the functions currently carried out by the HFEA and how they will be discharged in the future, including the scope for streamlined and lighter touch regulation. The proposals will be subject to a public consultation later in the year. Subject to the ongoing discussions over the forthcoming months, we envisage that the consultation will include seeking comments on the body or bodies best suited to take on the range of information functions currently discharged by the HFEA. Around 80 per cent of the centres currently licensed by the HFEA are either also regulated by the CQC or are in premises the CQC regulates. The streamlining of regulatory functions, with the resulting removal of overlap between the regulatory bodies, is expected to generate savings from the rationalisation of support functions, including human resources, information technology, legal services and communications. In the financial year 2009-10 the HFEA's operational budget was £7.2 million. We envisage savings not only in these costs but also in the cost to the regulated bodies of having to demonstrate compliance with the current regulatory systems. Analysis of this will develop during the consultation process.