HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 cc979-80W
Mrs. Ellman

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he is taking to change arrangements for the removal, retention and use of human organs and tissue; and if he will make a statement. [32544]

Mr. Watts

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Government intend to introduce legislation to cover the removal and storage of human organs by hospitals and universities. [32291]

Mr. Hutton

In his advice to the Government, published last year, the chief medical officer made 17 specific recommendations regarding the removal, retention and use of human organs and tissue. These recommendations were accepted by us. We have an extensive programme of implementation, led by the Department, which is working closely with other Government Departments and other agencies. This includes the followingWe have established the Retained Organs Commission as a special health authority to oversee, among other things, the return of organs and tissue to families who want that to happen. The Home Office is leading a review of the coroners' system which was set up in July 2001. In January 2002 we published a number of documents for consultation, including a code of practice on communications with families about post mortems; draft forms for consent to the post mortem removal, retention and use of organs and tissue (where such actions are not required by a coroner); and an interim statement on the use of organs and tissue, based on the current law. The consent forms are linked to the Department's wider "Good Practice in Consent" initiative, and will shortly be piloted in a number of national health service trusts across the country. Taken together, these initiatives provide an interim framework of good practice pending changes in the law. We shall shortly be publishing for consultation a draft code of practice on the import and export of human body parts. The Department is leading a comprehensive review of the law in England and Wales which will examine, among other things, the taking, storage and use of organs and tissue from the living and the dead and options for future regulatory control. We shall be issuing a consultative paper on possible changes to the law in the near future. We are committed to amending the Human Tissue Act 1961 to clarify that consent must be sought from those with parental responsibility for the retention of organs or tissue from post mortems on children beyond the time necessary to establish the cause of death, and to introducing a penalty for non-compliance. This will be addressed as part of the comprehensive review.