Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 24 January (WA 96–7), whether no information was communicated to Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority members prior to 16 March 2005 in which the autoimmune nature of type 1 diabetes was highlighted or queried in relation to licensing the use of cells from diabetics for human embryo cloning.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it reviews information in order to support its statutory functions. In considering licence applications, licence committees have at their disposal relevant information including peer review reports prepared by experts with current knowledge of the field. It is for a licence committee to determine whether or not it is sufficiently well informed to make a determination according to its statutory duties, including whether it is provided with the scientific and other relevant advice that it requires. The powers of HFEA licence committees are delegated to them by the authority pursuant to provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended. Minutes of licence committee meetings, which set out the committee’s reasoning, are published on the authority’s website at: www.hfea.gov.uk. The authority does not comment on the judgment of a licence committee or speculate on the facts relating to a licence committee decision; to do so would undermine the purpose of the statutory provision for the delegation of this function. A procedure for reconsideration of licence committee decisions is prescribed in regulations. No role is assigned to the authority in relation to appeals, which are considered by a separate appeals committee as established by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Appeals) Regulations 2009 (SI2009/1891). Further appeal may be made to the High Court on a point of law.