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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I entirely follow the lead of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, in his support for the amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding. He is on to a very important point, which concerns basic human rights and takes us back to the point made about human rights in an earlier debate in your Lordships’ House by the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York. Denying children the right to know their natural father is wrong, if I can use such a fierce word. The absence of knowledge of the natural origins of a person's life can have profound consequences on an individual's emotional, social and spiritual development—here I use ““spiritual”” in its broadest sense, not just religious. The denial of any knowledge of a person's origin can have potentially devastating consequences for that individual, as some of your Lordships have pointed out in this short debate. Knowing one’s own genealogy is a human right, and a very important one. Most people recognise that what we think of as a sense of place is very comforting. It is where they identify with. A sense of who you are and where you come from is very much more than just comforting; it is essential. I say to the Minister that it is totally wrong for the state to connive in a falsehood—and I know he does not wish to do so. Birth certificates must record the birth as far as it is possible. They must never encourage a deliberate falsehood by making provision for the registration of parents in a way not clear to their children. Birth certificates have the sole function of genetic history, not of saying who is carrying out the ““parenting function””, if that is what it might be called. Surely the Government cannot wish their own newly established body, the Statistics Board, which takes up its role on 1 April under the immensely distinguished chairmanship of Sir Michael Scholar—it is already in operation according to Parliamentary Answers—to connive in any falsehood. We are told by the Prime Minister that the new Statistics Board is there, quite rightly, to ensure the purity and high quality of our statistics. I am sure that there is not scintilla of difference among anyone in this House: we want high-quality statistics. The board cannot begin its new role in April by being asked to connive in something which is, on the face of it, a falsehood if full details are not recorded in birth certificates. Has the new Statistics Board been consulted, or will it be consulted on that critically important issue—a genealogical, historical and medical issue—for those whose records it is considering? I hope that the Minister will tell us, in answer to this debate, that it is not being asked to connive in a deliberate falsehood. I think knowing who you are is as important as knowing where you are and where you come from. It is a basic human right to know who you are—to know what your identity is—and it is an affront to a child, as many noble Lords have said, to deny that. It is abhorrent for the state, in its might, to conspire against children in their inherent weakness. That is an extremely important point. It is a matter of ensuring that the truth is told and freedom is protected in a way that only totalitarians—which I know this Government are not—would wish to deny. We heard a little earlier about the importance of daughters from the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, who is not currently in his place. I took a reality check with my own dear daughter, Mary-Claire, who is up at Cambridge reading theology, and explained the issues in front of the House tonight. She said, ““Surely, Daddy, the most important thing is not the wishes of adults, but the human rights of the children””. I thought your Lordships would be grateful to have her advice.