Embryology (Hansard, 10 June 2004)

§ Mr. Amess
To ask the Secretary of State for Health which licensed fertility clinics are involved in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority pilot scheme on embryo donation; and if he will make a statement. [175895]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The Medical Research Council together with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have written a patient information leaflet and a standard consent form to be used for patients who express an interest in donating embryos for the purpose of deriving stem cells. These documents were sent to a number of centres that have a licence to use human embryos to derive stem cells and are contributing to the MRC stem cell initiative. The centres were asked to pilot these documents for three months which ended on 31 March 2004. The feedback forms will then be evaluated by the steering committee of the United Kingdom stem cell bank and for the use of stem cell lines and the HFEA before being finalised and sent to all relevant in vitro fertilisation centres in the UK. The participating centres are as followsAssisted Conception Unit, Birmingham Women's Hospital Assisted Conception Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital Assisted Conception Unit, University of Aberdeen Institute for Stem Cell Research, University of Edinburgh 541W Assisted Conception Unit, Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital, London The Bridge Centre, London Section of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine, The Jessop Wing, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield The Hewitt Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Liverpool Women's Hospital, Liverpool International Centre at Life, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Department of Gene Expression and Development, Roslin Institute, Midlothian Department of Reproductive Medicine, St. Mary's Hospital, Manchester Assisted Conception Unit, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London

§ Mr. Amess
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations his Department has received from members of the public regarding the code of practice for the United Kingdom stem cell bank; and if he will make a statement. [175896]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
No representations have been received from members of the public regarding the code of practice for the United Kingdom stem cell bank.

§ Mr. Amess
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he intends to publish the code of practice for the new United Kingdom stem cell bank; and if he will make a statement [175897]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
An interim code of practice for the United Kingdom stem cell bank is posted on the Medical Research Council website. Some changes may be required after the consultation on the companion code of practice on the use of stem cell lines finishes at the end of this month. The steering committee for the stem cell bank and for the use of stem cell lines will consider the responses to the consultation. The codes of practice are expected to be published by the Medical Research Council in the autumn.

§ Mr. Amess
To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the peer reviewers are, appointed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to consider the application to the HFEA by Professor Alison Murdoch for a licence to create human embryonic stem cell lines using nuclear transfer and pathenogenically activated oocytes; and if he will make a statement. [175899]

§ Miss Melanie Johnson
The use of external peer reviewers is an essential part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) process for evaluating applications for research licences. All applications are sent to at least two reviewers who are asked to determine whether the application comes within the statutory purposes of the 1990 Act (as amended), requires human embryos to fulfil its aims and objectives, requires the numbers and types of embryos outlined in the application, and meets the requirements of the HFEA code of practice including ethical approval and patient information.
Assessment must not only avoid conflict of interest between reviewers and applicants but also avoid circumstances that might give the impression that there is a conflict of interest. Therefore all peer reviewers must declare any conflict of interest in an application that they have been asked to review. Furthermore, peer reviewers have an obligation to protect the ideas and 542W plans of the applicants. The identity of the reviewers of individual research applications is confidential to the HFEA. This confidentiality allows the free exchange of views among reviewers and is in line with the policies of the United Kingdom funding bodies and scientific and medical journals. A list of peer reviewers, current as of 31 August 2003, is published in the HFEA annual report 2002–03 and an updated list will be published on the HFEA website and the next annual report.