F-2010-00237 - Minutes of HFEA Ethics and Law Committee Meetings
19 November 2010
Summary of request
The Authority was asked for copies of HFEA Ethics and Law Committee minutes prior to 2003.
HFEA response
The Ethics and Law Committee was established in 2003. Its forerunner was the Ethics Committee, which was constituted in 1999. An earlier Ethics Committee had operated from 1995 until 1996, which was largely occupied during that period with producing a report on Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. In 1991 the Authority established a Committee on Social and Ethical Issues but that was dissolved in 1993 when the Authority agreed that ethically contentious issues should be discussed instead by the full Authority and that specific projects would be addressed by ad hoc working groups when necessary. There are no reports of Ethics Committee meetings between 1996 and 1999, although ad hoc working groups were in operation during this time.
- Ethics Committee meetings 1995-2003 (2.41 MB)
Minutes of the following meetings are included in the attached document:
Ethics Committee 1995-1996
1. 1995-12-19
2. 1996-02-22
3. 1996-03-28
Ethics Committee 1999-2003
1. 1999/02/25
2. 1999/05/20
3. 1999/09/13
4. 2000/03/24
5. 2000/05/25
6. 2000/11/23
7. 2001/01/25
8. 2001/05/25
9. 2001/07/27
10. 2001/10/26
11. 2002/02/28
12. 2002/05/24
13. 2002/09/26
14. 2003-02-20
15. 2003-04-25
Errata:
· There are two sets of minutes that appear to refer to a meeting on 25 January 2001. The second of these refer to the meeting held on 25 March 2001.
· The minutes relating to the eleventh meeting record the meeting as having taken place on 28 March 2002. The meeting actually took place on 28 February that year.
Certain information contained in these documents has been redacted (blocked out). This is because the information constitutes ‘personal data’ within the meaning given in sections 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’). It is therefore exempt from disclosure under sections 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i) of the FOIA. It is the Authority’s opinion that disclosure of such information would be in breach of the first data protection principle (fair and lawful processing) as set out in Schedule 1 to the DPA since none of the conditions set out in Schedule 2 to the DPA is met. In the case of HFEA staff, names of staff at grades below that of Director (or equivalent) have been redacted, with the exception of the lead official for the committee. In at least one case the information also constitutes ‘sensitive personal data’ within the meaning of section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (‘DPA’) and is therefore exempt (no condition set out in Schedules 2 or 3 to the FOIA is met). Furthermore, in at least one case the information withheld is ‘register information’ (information falling within section 31(2) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended). Disclosure of information register information (except in limited circumstances set out in the Act) is prohibited by section 33A of that Act and may constitute a criminal offence. This information is therefore exempt from the general entitlement to disclosure provided by section 1 of the FOIA under section 44 of that Act.
Other records indicate that further informal meetings of Ethics Committee members took place in 1996 . No minutes relating to the Committee on Social and Ethical issues are supplied. This is because the Authority estimates that the cost of complying fully with the request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 ('the Regulations'). This limit is £450 and, for the purposes of estimating cost, staff time is calculated at notional rate of £25 per hour. Section 12 of the FOIA allows public authorities to decline to provide information requested under the FOIA where the cost of doing so would exceed this appropriate limit.
Page last updated: 09 August 2012