§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is their intention that clinics offering GIFT (Gamete Intro-Fallopian Transfer) should be licensed.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hooper)The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as passed by your Lordships' House and as amended in Committee in another place does not require the technique of GIFT to be licensed. Only treatments which involve the use of donated gametes or the creation of an embryo outside the body will be regulated. However, the Government have put down an amendment for the Commons Report stage to make it possible, under regulations, to ensure that licensing controls may be extended to GIFT if, at some future date, Parliament wishes.