HC Deb 25 May 1994 vol 244 cc210-1W
Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines are issued by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority concerning the disposal of the human embryo in establishments which they license.

Mr. Sackville

Guidance is included in section 7.19 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's code of practice, copies of which are available in the Library.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the income derived from the sale of Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority licences in the last financial year; how much was generated by the sale of treatments; what percentage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's income is generated by the sale of licences and treatments; how many licences and treatments were declined; and what consideration she has given to the propriety of a medical ethics committee having to meet financial targets as part of its remit.

Mr. Sackville

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority was established by Parliament under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 to license and control centres providing certain infertility treatments, undertaking embryo research or storing gametes or embryos. The HFEA aims are to ensure the effective regulation of such centres, to promote good practice in centres and to provide relevant advice and information as necessary. One of its objectives is to identify the ethical and social implications of developments in research and treatment and to develop policy accordingly.

The HFEA's main financial regime is designed to enable it to carry out the functions laid down for it in the 1990 Act. The HFEA's main financial objective is to carry out its statutory duties efficiently, effectively and economically and to recover in licence fees the proportion of income determined by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Treasury.

In 1992–93, the last year for which audited accounts are available, licence fee income was £686,040, 66.8 per cent. of the HFEA's total budget. In the same year five licences were refused, including two for research applications. Unaudited accounts for 1993–94 show a fee income of £830,932, 70.8 per cent. of the HFEA's total budget. In that year one treatment licence was refused, one licence revoked and one licence suspended. In addition, four research applications were refused.

Information about licensed centres' income and treatments refused is not available centrally.