Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (Hansard, 25 July 1990)

§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke

I am pleased to announce that the following people have indicated their willingness to serve as members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology AuthorityMargaret Auld FRCN, formerly Chief Nursing Officer, Scottish Home and Health Department; Vice President, Royal College of Midwives; Professor Robert J. Berry FRSE, Professor of Genetics at the University of London; Professor Ian Cooke FRCOG, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Sheffield Jessop Hospital for Women; specialist in reproductive medicine. Professor Antony Cox FRCP FRCPsych, University of London Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals. Liz Forgan, Director of Programmes at Channel 4 Television; Joan Harbison ABPsS, Senior Lecturer in Education, Stranmillis College, Belfast; Dr. Stephen Hillier PhD MRCPath, Director of Reproductive Endocrinology Laboratory, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Biology; Professor Brenda Hoggett QC, Law Commissioner; Recorder of the Crown Court; Visiting Professor of Law at King's College, London; The Rt. Rev. Richard Holloway, Bishop of Edinburgh; Dr. Helen Houston, MD MRCGP, general practitioner, Senior Lecturer in Continuing Medical Education at the Department of Postgraduate Studies, University of Wales College of Medicine. Penelope Keith, actress; Angela Mays, training consultant; Dr. Anne McLaren FRS, Director of the Medical Research Council Mammalian Development Unit; Rabbi Julia Neuberger, Visiting Fellow, King's Fund Institute; Chairman of the Patients' Association; Professor Robert W. Shaw FRCS (Ed) MRCOG, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine; David Shilson, senior official in the Bank of England; Professor Robert Snowden, Professor of Family Studies at Exeter University; Christine Walby, Director of Social Services, Solihull; Professor David Whittingham FRCVS, Professor of Experimental Embryology, University of London and Director of the Medical Research Council Experimental Embryology and Teratology Unit.

As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority cannot be set up by the United Kingdom Health Ministers 340W until the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill has received Royal Assent, their acceptance is on a provisional basis until then.

The members have been selected on the basis of their experience and personal qualities and not as representatives of any group or profession. They have been chosen so as to ensure that the authority is informed by views and experience across a wide range of relevant disciplines.

Miss Auld, Professor Cooke, Dr. Hillier, Dr. McLaren, Rabbi Neuberger, and Professor Shaw are currently members of the Interim Licensing Authority. This body was set up in 1985 by the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists pending legislation on human fertilisation and embryology. It will continue in being until the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority assumes its full powers, probably in the summer of 1991.