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A summary of the one hundred and seventeenth meeting of the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority on 23rd May 2002

Matters arising from the March meeting

The minutes of the March meeting were approved subject to several minor amendments.

The Chair informed members that she had asked two Authority members to carry out a review of current HFEA practice in regard to conflicts of interest with a view to putting forward proposals for consideration by members.

The Director of Communications presented a paper setting out the principles for briefing the media in the event of interest in an incident. Members were reminded to keep the HFEA press office informed
of any approaches from the media.

It was noted that the HFEA website was being redesigned and an improved site would be 'live' by the next meeting.

Chairman's Report

Members were informed of Chair's visits to Centres which had been useful to her and she thanked the members who were responsible for this for their help. She had also attended her first meeting as a member of the Human Genetics Commission, the Royal Society's 50th Anniversary planning group, the BFS Conference and, more recently, the PROGAR Conference, as well as having meetings with stakeholders.

Conflict of interest

The Chair referred members to the tabled letter from DH notifying the Authority that a submission to the Public Administration Committee's Inquiry into Public Appointments and Patronage had alleged some Members had failed to declare certain interests in the Annual report. This apparent discrepancy was, in fact, due to Members acquiring new interests since the publication of the Annual Report 2000.

Members agreed that their interests would be declared on the website as well as separately in the Annual Report.

The Chair suggested that whilst the extent of the declaration was up to the individual member the minimum members should consider was the following:

"All personal or business interests which may or, in the judgement of the member, may be perceived by a reasonable member of the public to influence their judgement should be declared. Such interest will include, but will not be limited to, involvement in treatment activities and research activities relevant to the HFEA. In addition, other interests which do not appear to be immediately relevant to the work of the HFEA may also be declared at the discretion of the member concerned."

The question of what could be classed as relevant interest was discussed and it was agreed that members would use their judgement, but be precautionary.

At the members' retreat it was agreed to have an overall strategy and business plan with performance targets. The Chair and some members were working with the Chief Executive on this and it was hoped to be able to circulate a draft strategy by the end of July.

Chief Executive's Report

Members were informed that the draft Annual Report had been approved by the Minister and NAO and that it was at the printers.

Progress Report on the Register Project

Substantial improvements had been made and were continuing to be made to the IT and business systems of the HFEA. .

With the approval of the Chair, a steering group comprising some members, a DH representative and an independent IT expert was being established to oversee the Register Project. The Chief Executive was asked to report on progress at the next meeting.

The complexity of the Register Project called for robust management and members agreed that the steering group was needed. Its first task would be to set out a clear plan on its role and purpose and to agree a minimum data set to comply with the Act, as well as determining what other data it was necessary to hold.

Development of New Fees Strategy

The need for developing a new fees strategy was explained by James Stockwell. The work was being carried out under the direction of the Organisation and Finance Committee (OFC). and it was hoped to have the strategy in place by October 2002. To meet this deadline a series of workshops, committee meetings and stakeholder consultations and hearings had been scheduled to a very tight timetable.

A stakeholder lunch had taken place with patient groups which had proved useful, and it had been apparent that the representatives were happy to be consulted. Two further lunches had been arranged for service providers.
The stakeholder hearings before a steering group were planned for June where experts would be invited to give evidence. The steering group had yet to be finalised but an independent Chair had been appointed.

The Chair added that the idea behind this was not only to re-structure HFEA's fee income but to also address the way in which to streamline HFEA's working practices and identify improvements with stakeholders.

The next workshop would take place on 30th May and the Chair invited Members to attend this and the OFC Meeting on 10th June.

Regulation Activity

Members agreed that regular briefings on regulatory incidents were useful.

Stem Cell Research

The summary of the MRC Committee meeting held on 11th April was noted.

Members felt that there should be a member representative on any MRC committee on this issue.

Donor Information

The Ethics Committee's initial thinking on the potential changes in the status of donor information and the implications for the HFEA of such changes being implemented were set out in a paper. The subject would be discussed more thoroughly at the next Ethic's Committee and would be re-discussed at the next meeting of the Authority.

Bulk Import of Sperm

An application had been received by the HFEA for the bulk import of sperm from a centre in Denmark to a licensed centre in the UK.

The applying centre currently had conditions set on its license. After lengthy discussion it was agreed that the Authority needed a consistent process to deal with this type of application, and the general feeling was to deal with this on a case by case basis.

Committee Reports

Members received short reports on the work of the Code of Practice Committee and the Working Group on New Developments in Reproductive Technology and the Steering Group on Sex Selection.

It was noted that the Terms of Reference of all committees were being looked at as part of a Governance Review. It was recognised, therefore, that these new Terms of Reference were to be regarded as interim.

Any Other Business

It was reported that the British Fertility Society, and some individual clinics were concerned that the HFEA intended to publish Patient's Guide data for 2000 and 2001 that had not been verified.

The main concern of the members was that if no data was included patients would be relying on the 1998/99 figures or calling clinics direct: the former would not be appropriate and the latter would result in the HFEA not knowing what information was being given.

Various ideas for confirming the accuracy of data were discussed.

Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next Authority meeting is 27th June 2002.

Page last updated: 24 October 2011

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