Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Earl Howe on 6 May (Official Report, cols. 699–701), what will be the role of the proposed Special Health Authority if the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority or Human Tissue Authority have no functions transferred from them prior to the establishment of the Heath Research Agency.
Answer
As announced at Budget in the plan for growth, we will establish the Health Research Authority this year, in the first instance as a special health authority with the National Research Ethics Service as its core. In the mean time, the National Research Ethics Service remains part of the National Patient Safety Agency and other bodies continue to perform related functions. The Government's aim is that the Health Research Authority will combine and streamline the approvals for health research which are at present scattered across many organisations. We will use next session's Health and Social Care Bill to establish the Health Research Authority as a non-departmental public body (NDPB) at arm's length from Ministers. We will set out the proposed functions of this new NDPB Health Research Authority in a public consultation later this year on the transfer of functions from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and Human Tissue Authority.