Question
To ask her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 22 November 2011 (WA 222) and 30 November 2011 (WA 69), whether the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s compliance and enforcement policy requires an individual who is neither employed nor licensed by the authority to personally identify a sperm donor whose sperm was used in research without his consent and to contact that person, so that the authority could then check the donor register and inform the centre concerned of the donor’s identity, so that the centre concerned could then check their records to ascertain whether the sperm donor was retrospectively contacted and inform the authority accordingly, such that the authority might be able to confirm whether the sperm donor was contacted regarding the use of his sperm in research; and, if so, which part does so.[HL58]
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that its compliance and enforcement policy applies to all cases where the authority has become aware of a centre’s non-compliance, whether through an inspection or otherwise. The compliance policy does not explicitly deal with the example described by the noble Lord.