Fertility body axe plans condemned

The Government has been criticised over plans to scrap the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) by the body's former chairman.

Baroness Deech said splitting the organisation, which regulates IVF treatment and embryo research, would not save money and would threaten its functions.

And the former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, a member of the HFEA until last year, warned that abolishing the body could make "unfortunate instances" more likely.

Health Minister Earl Howe said at question time in the House of Lords that the Government proposed to transfer the functions of the HFEA to other bodies by the end of the Parliament.

Lady Deech, chairman of the HFEA from 1994 to 2002, asked: "Will you give the House an assurance that you will stand by the pre-legislative scrutiny committee of three years ago and not endanger the statutory functions of the HFEA, including the all-important database and the guidance of patients, by splitting up the functions between five other committees, thereby saving no money at all and endangering the world-wide reputation of this model of regulation?"

Lord Howe said that 20 years ago it made sense to have all the functions carried out by a single authority, but he added: "Times have moved on and we think there is a more logical way to parcel out those functions in a way that does not dilute in the slightest the efficacy or efficiency of the regulatory action."

But Lord Harries said: "Given the special ethical status of the early foetus, would you not agree that is the integrated function of the HFEA whereby the licensing of the clinics, the licensing of research and the extensive database are held together which minimises the risk of unfortunate instances?

"If the HFEA is dismembered the likelihood of these unfortunate instances is likely to increase."

Lord Howe said the Government would "look very carefully at the design of systems so as to ensure that both the expertise and scrutiny functions that we associate so well with the HFEA are not diluted or lost".

Baroness Thornton, for Labour, said a large number of organisations, including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing, had expressed "very serious concerns" about the proposals.