Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 7 February (WA 13–14), what was the procedure for reconsidering licence committee decisions prescribed in regulations prior to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Appeals) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/1891); how many appeals have been made; by whom; and what were the outcomes of those appeals.
Answer
Prior to the coming into force of the relevant provisions introduced by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (2008 Act), the procedure for reconsidering Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) licence committee decisions was set out in Section 20 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (1990 Act) and in The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Licence Committees and Appeals) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1889). The HFEA has advised that in the last five years one appeal was made under Section 20(1) of the 1990 Act, as in force prior to amendments made by the 2008 Act, by the person responsible for centres 0157 and 0206. The HFEA has also advised that in the course of parallel legal proceedings it set aside the appealed decision and the appeal consequently fell away without being determined by the authority. The HFEA has further advised that there have been a small number of other occasions on which individuals have given notice of their intention to appeal a licence committee decision but, in each of these cases, the appellant subsequently decided not to pursue the appeal and no hearing took place.