Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 31. I shall speak also to Commons Amendments Nos. 34, 53, 62 to 71 and 73 to 88. The Bill introduces new paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 3 to the 1990 Act, which enables a person who lacks physical capacity to direct another to sign a notice of consent on their behalf. This ensures that where someone is physically incapacitated, they are not prevented from giving consent to the creation, keeping and use of embryos and human admixed embryos and to the storage and use of gametes to create embryos. Commons Amendments Nos. 31 and 34 ensure that an equivalent provision is made where consent is required to being treated as the father or second female parent of a child born by assisted conception. These amendments enable the person giving consent to direct another person to sign the notice of consent on their behalf. Equally, if the mother of the child is unable to sign the notice she can direct someone to sign on her behalf. These amendments ensure consistency in the Bill. Amendments Nos. 53, 62 to 71 and 73 to 88 are purely technical in nature and have been raised at this point after further scrutiny of the Bill. Amendment No. 53 replaces the phrase ““the incapacitated person”” with the phrase a ““person unable to sign””, to distinguish a person who is incapacitated due to illness, injury or physical disability from people who lack capacity to consent, which is relevant in the context of other amendments later in this Schedule. During previous consideration of the Bill in this House, the noble Lord, Lord Alton, raised concerns about the words ““child donor”” in new paragraph 9 of Schedule 3, where these words are referring to a patient who is a child. In order to prevent any confusion with the terminology, minor technical amendments have been made throughout, replacing the words ““child donor”” with the letter ““C””. For consistency, further amendments are needed to replace the word ““patient”” with the letter ““P”” in new paragraph 10. These are covered by Amendments Nos. 62 to 71 and 73 to 88. Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 31.—(Baroness Thornton.)