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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

The noble and learned Lord, when he replied from the Dispatch Box, told me that the figure that he had been given in his papers was 10 per cent, and we have heard as an aside just now that it could be more. That is an important thing to bear in mind if one is considering the integrity of the register of birth certificates. I put that down to the imperfection of human nature. Hence, we have an imperfect register of births. It is important that that is in the background. The amendment proposed by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, refers to making sure that the Government and authorities are not conniving with lies, which is a slightly different thing. A large part of the birth register will not have the integrity that people might think. On an earlier amendment, my noble friend Lord Elystan-Morgan talked about the right to know as being an essential right. That is fine, subject to the qualification of the imperfection and frailty of human nature.