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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, was a member of the pre-scrutiny committee, and I support the position of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay. I think that he took the temperature of the committee very well when he said that by using the word ““serious”” we meant to incorporate the essence of the amendment of the noble Earl, Lord Howe. From the discussions that we have had on both this amendment and the previous one, it is clear that the difficulty is with the elusiveness of such vocabulary in the Bill, which may generate debates among lawyers and so on about precise meanings. Can my noble friend help me here? Can she say—the noble Earl, Lord Howe, might agree with her—whether an appropriate way forward might be to incorporate the definition in the form of statutory guidance either to the HFEA or from the HFEA to practitioners so that the substance of what is meant by the word ““serious””—effectively, ““severe””—is available without being included in the Bill in a way that gives rise to some of the hesitations that have been expressed?