Clause 4 - Nominated representatives
Human Tissue Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 10, in
clause 4, page 5, line 10, at end insert—
'(8A) If, in accordance with the requirements of subsections (3) to (5), a person writes to disallow any person from enjoying a qualifying relationship as defined in section 24, then that adverse nomination shall apply in relation to appropriate consent.'.
A provision in clause 4 allows a person, having been nominated, to renounce their appointment. I point that out because amendment No. 10 is designed to explore the question not so much of a nominated representative, but of a person who is in a ''qualifying relationship''.
If an individual has not provided consent and has not nominated anyone as their representative, after their death the provisions in clause 24 would come into effect. However, clause 24 does not permit anyone, by virtue of an instrument of the sort set out in clause 4(3) to (5), to vary in advance who is in a ''qualifying relationship'' with them for the purposes of giving consent.
If I am wrong, I will be pleased to hear why; otherwise, I hope that it might be possible to include the amendment. It is always a sensitive issue, but none of us is without experience of families in which, if they thought about it, some people would be excluded from the ''qualifying relationship'' of others. We should permit it.