Clause 1 - Authorisation of activities for scheduled purposes
Human Tissue Bill
9:10 am
Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
I am grateful to the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Dr. Taylor) for his clear exposition of the reasons behind the amendments and for putting on the record quotations from the medical research community and professional groups, so that they do not have to be repeated.
I joined the hon. Gentleman in tabling the amendments and have also tabled a new clause of my own that probes the Government's thinking in a slightly different way. There is concern that the term ''consent'' relates only to the person giving consent and that the primary legislation will not make it sufficiently clear to people who will clearly be at risk if they fall foul of the measures that they must ensure that the consent is both obtained from the appropriate person and appropriate for the intended purpose. They need to be reassured, because many functions will be carried out by people other than those who obtain the consent. We should make that point clear in primary legislation.
I say that because pathologists will carry out much of the work but rarely obtain consent from the relatives or—when the people concerned are alive—the patient. The treating clinician—or, when appropriate, their delegate—usually obtains consent. Both parties—the person obtaining the consent and the person carrying out an activity on the relevant material—must reach an understanding that consent is adequate for its purposes and comes from the appropriate person. I have no doubt that the Minister's response will be that the issue of consent will be clarified by the Human Tissue Authority in its code of practice and standard consent forms.