Schedule 7
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]
1:30 pm
Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour)
Section 7 of the 1990 Act requires the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to produce an annual report. Currently, section 7(1) requires a report covering the year from August to July, reflecting the fact that the HFEA came into operation on 1 August 1991. The amendment is a technical, administrative provision. The Treasury’s financial reporting manual requires non-departmental public bodies, such as the HFEA, to produce an annual report to accompanying the body’s annual accounts.
It is therefore practical that we amend the reporting period to cover the financial year April to March, in line with the requirements of financial reporting manuals. It is a purely administrative requirement. There will be no change to the requirement that the Secretary of State lays the annual report or any other report under the schedule before Parliament. There has never been a requirement that the report will automatically be put down for debate, but it must be laid before Parliament after which time it will be open through the normal procedure in Parliament for hon. Members to debate it. Because such a change was not worth making in legislation in its own right, we are making such an amendment now to bring matters into line.