Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 10 January (WA 22), whether they consider that patients were in a position to provide informed consent regarding the use of a germinal vesicle in research project R0122 when the patient information and consent forms for this project referred only to the use of embryos in research, not oocytes, and the latest progress report for research licence R0122 received by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in April 2004 stated that embryos were not created for research in this project.[HL55]
Answer
As I advised the noble Lord in my Written Answer of 28 November 2011 (Official Report, col. WA 10), the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has no statutory obligation to regulate the use of eggs in research that does not involve the creation of embryos. The HFEA has advised that the progress report for research licence R0122, referred to by the noble Lord, documents the use of embryos and the proposed use of eggs.
The HFEA has advised that it has nothing further to add to the information given in my Written Answer of 3 October 2011 (Official Report, col. WA 105). The HFEA has also advised that it does not hold information
about the specific roles of individual members of staff at research centres in relation to research carried out on specific days.