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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I will address both the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, and the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and government Amendment No. 128. Much of the discussion we have had about the Bill has been about the importance of donor-conceived people being made aware of that fact. Several reasons have been discussed today, a critical one being to avoid the distress caused when a donor-conceived person finds out in an uncontrolled way at a later stage in life that the person they thought was their biological father is not. We want to avoid situations such as the one cited by the right reverend Prelate. The Government recognise the importance of ensuring that prospective parents understand how important it is that a child is told that they were donor-conceived. As the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, said, honesty is fundamental, and a child who is told at an early age will grow up with that knowledge and will be better informed, and there will be better family relationships. That is done by the parents telling them in the most effective and least distressing way. It is the Government’s view that that is best achieved by education rather than enforcement. To that end, the Department of Health is working closely with the Donor Conception Network to support projects to encourage telling. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, I certainly recommend that your Lordships have a look at its website, which is rather good. We are funding the Telling and Talking project, which supports parents who have already told children about their donor conception. We are also funding a second project that will be working with prospective parents hoping to conceive using donor gametes. These projects, involving discussions and workshops, will be piloted and evaluated to assess the best way of communicating with parents and prospective parents and to give them the opportunity to feed back information. The preparation project will talk to parents about the process of donor conception, its implications and its particular responsibilities. The 1990 Act requires counselling to be available and relevant information, as is proper, to be provided by all licensed treatment clinics. It is a condition of all licences that a woman shall not be provided with treatment unless she and any person who is to be treated together with her have been given suitable opportunity to receive proper counselling and relevant information. Following discussions in Committee we have tabled Amendment No. 128, which strengthens provision in the Bill in respect of counselling and information, in addition to requiring that all patients be given the offer of counselling and provided with information. It also requires quite specifically that the HFEA produces in its code of practice guidance for the clinics about doing so. The noble Earl is quite right in his reading of our amendment. For example, where the treatment involves donated gametes, the code could specify that information relating to the importance of discussing this issue with the child from an early age was provided to prospective parents. In addition, we would also expect the guidance in the code of practice to relate to who provides the counselling and how it is offered. Amendment No. 129, tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, takes that further. It adds to the government amendment by specifying that the information provided should make clear the importance of disclosing to any child born from treatment services the circumstances of their conception and to provide guidance designed to assist a person in making such a disclosure. Amendments Nos. 111 and 130, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, would try to ensure that people born as a result of donor conception were informed by amending the licence conditions that apply to clinics about the welfare of the child. Those amendments also seek to ensure that there is guidance on informing a child in the HFEA code of practice. We wholeheartedly agree that the code of practice should address this area, and it was with that in mind that the government amendment was tabled. The purpose of our amendment is to ensure that the HFEA can specify what information should be provided to patients. Let me answer a couple of questions that have been put during this short debate. The noble Lord, Lord Patten, asked if the Statistics Board had been consulted on birth certificates. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 ensures that donors are not regarded as the legal parents of children born as a result of assisted conception treatment. It provides that donors are not regarded as parents for any purpose and therefore would not be regarded as such for statistical purposes. The noble Lord, Lord Alton, asked for clarification on whether we meant 10 cycles or 10 children using donor sperm. The HFEA guidance states that donor sperm cannot be used by more than 10 families. A donor may state a lower number if he so wishes. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, asked about birth certificates and compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. Any proposal to amend birth certificates in the way suggested would have to be considered on the individual facts. However, broadly speaking, the Government’s view is that the human rights of donor-conceived children and their parents are likely to be engaged. Therefore, any interference by the state into this private realm would have to be proportionate and fully justified. It is our view that the interests of donor-conceived children in finding out about their genetic origins are best protected by a programme of information and education to support their parents in discussing this information with them. We accept in principle the intention of the amendments in this group. Indeed, we accept far more than that, and I would like to take away the three opposition amendments in the group. I can give noble Lords an assurance that I will come back on Third Reading with an amendment that takes into consideration the spirit of those three amendments. With that, I ask the noble Lord to withdraw the amendment.