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Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Lord, Lord Patel, as I did in Committee. I have always been slightly surprised that the issue is so powerful and emotive. Clearly, that was so when the noble Baroness, Lady Warnock, did her report; and we have had the legislation that we have had. I say that because the first successful IVF treatment resulted in such huge coverage in every newspaper in the world. The birth of Louise Brown and the way in which it was reported sent a general feeling throughout the land about this treatment. I firmly believe it is in part because of that that today, informally, this is not a great matter of shame; it is very commonly talked about. I say that because, apart from the issues that the noble Lord, Lord Patel, has rightly raised about the damaging limitations that these strictures place on care—particularly the antenatal care of individual woman—it is wise, when considering this matter, to take into account public opinion, which if anything has become much more open and well disposed towards disclosure over the past 20 years. In 2005, the department, as part of its review of the HFEA Act 1990, proposed that confidentiality provisions should be revised so that information about assisted reproductive treatment was treated in exactly the same way as any other medical information. That element of the consultation brought forward general agreement. People could not, in general, understand why this information should be treated differently. I note the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, about anonymised data, but my understanding is that the amendment would simply replicate that which is in the Human Tissue Act, so there would be no question of individual patient data being widely reported outside the medical profession. That is not what is proposed, as indeed it should not be. The amendment would make a tremendous difference to healthcare practitioners who frankly get round the law to work in the best interests of their patients. I do not believe that they should have to do that in future.