§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any investigation has been launched into Professor Austin Smith's recent declaration that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 96WA asked him for independent scientific advice on his own application to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to conduct embryonic stem cell research; and, in such circumstances, whether the Government retain confidence in the ability of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to be an effective and independent regulator of embryo research. [HL5857]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath):Applications for research licences made to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority are considered by the authority's licence committee. The members of the committee have considerable expertise relevant to such applications, but they also seek expert external advice on specialist areas as and when appropriate. The Medical Research Council is one body of expert advice that the authority approaches for additional input, as it did in the case of Professor Smith's research application. The authority anonymises applications when referring them for such advice becuse they are submitted to the authority in confidence and because doing so helps to remove the possibility of personal bias for or against the applicant. The Medical Research Council then unwittingly asked Professor Smith to review the application on its behalf. However, it is the council's standard practice to require people it consults to declare any potential conflict of interest. Professor Smith duly did so.
As part of its modernisation process, the authority is to review the way it deals with research applications.