Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 23 June 2010 (WA 182-3) and 14 November 2011 (WA 105), why the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had required the Newcastle Fertility Centre to submit details regarding the use of hundreds of human eggs under research licence R0122 if these were not used to bring about the creation of embryos and if the use of human eggs for research purposes is not otherwise regulated by the HFEA; and which other licensed centres have been similarly required to submit details to the HFEA regarding numbers of eggs used in research without disclosing the specific purposes for which such eggs were used.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that all centres carrying out HFEA-licensed research projects are required to submit information and data sheets to the authority. This allows centres to provide data about the number of eggs used in a research project. Although the authority has no statutory obligation to collect this information it does so because the use of eggs, including for purposes other than creating embryos, can be related to HFEA-licensed research projects. The research project licence that the noble Lord refers to expired on 30 March 2006. The project existed at a time when progress reports served a similar purpose to information and data sheets.