HC Deb 19 May 2004 vol 421 cc1009-10W
Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many licensed clinics providing fertility treatment have obtained licences for embryonic stem cell research. [173381]

Miss Melanie Johnson

Seven clinics licensed to provide fertility treatment have obtained licences for embryonic stem cell research.

Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the application to the Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority by Professor Alison Murdoch for a licence to create human embryonic stem cell lives using nuclear transfer and parthenogenically activated oocytes. [173434]

Miss Melanie Johnson

Embryo research in the United Kingdom can only be carried out under licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

Consideration of the application by Professor Alison Murdoch for a licence to create human embryonic stem cell lines using nuclear transfer and parthenogenically activated oocytes is for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to determine under the provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

Professor Murdoch is on the HFEA's panel of external inspectors for in-vitro fertilisation clinics. The HFEA have procedures in place to avoid using individual external inspectors in circumstances where they could have a conflict of interest.