Clause 46 - Offences relating to non-consensual analysis of DNA
Human Tissue Bill
10:45 am
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
As amendment No. 184 leads the group, I shall speak to that before we hear the Minister explain how the Government intend to remove clause 47 and what was schedule 5, and insert instead new schedule 2. That will help us for a couple of reasons. I hope that she will not feel the need to talk to amendments Nos. 185 and 186 because amendment No. 185 is redundant, as is, I think, amendment No. 186 because it would ensure consistency between Scotland and other parts of the United Kingdom. That consistency has become clearer by virtue of the way in which new schedule 2 is expressed.
Most of our amendments, other than amendments Nos. 184 and 98, are affected by the way in which the Government have rejigged the structure, so they probably lose their immediate effectiveness. However, they were tabled in order to raise issues. Rather than refer at length to amendments and how they work, it is simpler to refer to the subjects they raise and how they arise.
My first question relates to the creation of an offence of intent. Amendment No. 184 is designed to question the nature of the offence that we are creating. When we considered retained organs and tissue generally, we discussed the offence of storing and using materials for which consent had not been received. At no point have we created an offence of an intention to do something. When considering DNA analysis, we should ask why the offence should be constructed around an intention.
Amendment No. 184 would change the clause's structure. The offence would be to undertake or procure the analysis unless it was, for example, consented, identifiable or for an excepted purpose. The idea of intention is questionable in principle and would be difficult to define in practice. The prospect is worrisome, particularly to those engaged in medical research who might feel that they are liable for an offence arising from an intention rather than from undertaking an activity.
My second question arises from amendment No. 98. Clause 46 refers to
''human DNA in the material''
and the question of its analysis. I hope that nobody—especially not the hon. Member for Norwich, North—will ask me how it works. Apparently, it is possible and indeed common to undertake DNA analysis not necessarily on material, but following a procedure known as PRC—