Schedule 5
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]
12:30 pm
Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour)
We covered the question of qualified inspectors not directly employed by the HFEA in a previous debate, and what they would inspect—the laboratories and equipment, rather than some of the other issues. It would be necessary for that person to be a qualified inspector.
As for periods of inspection and notice of inspection, I do not have information to hand on that; it operates at present, and as far as I know we have not had any problems. However, if the evidence justifies it, we need to allow for spot inspections. I shall need to include that in the letter that I have written to the hon. Gentleman; it will be a subset. He asked whether details of seizures will be made public—perhaps on the HFEA website—and if there is no such obligation, why not. There may be some caveats, so I shall certainly write to him on that.
The last point raised by the hon. Gentleman was about compensation when a search has taken place. No provision has been made for compensation. The whole point is that those making inspections and seizures under the 1990 Act should act reasonably. That means within a certain time, and it also requires a reason for the inspection. All that would have to be demonstrated, and I will put that into the letter too.
This regime has worked well. The hon. Gentleman will need to be satisfied when I give him the details of how many revocations there have been and how many inspections have resulted in revocation, but I say to him that the whole point of the regime is that it does not need to be used often and in the period since 1990—apart from the required inspections—those spot inspections or seizures have not been used often. I hope that I will be able to reassure him and other members of the Committee on that in writing.