F-2011-00045 – HFEA consultations - 09/02/2011
09 February 2011
Summary of request
The Authority was asked for a list of patient organisations and professional associations consulted between 1980 and 2010 by the HFEA.
HFEA response
The Authority does not hold a list of patient organisations and professional associations it has consulted. Relevant information may, however, be contained in papers held by the Authority in relation to specific matters. The HFEA assumed its powers on 1 August 1991, therefore no relevant information held relates to any period prior to that date.
On major issues of policy it has been the Authority’s standard practice to carry out a public consultation, open to anyone. By definition, the number of those whose input is sought in such cases is indefinite. Organisations that have responded to the Authority’s consultations may be listed in relevant Committee papers and in final reports available on the Authority’s website (see, for example, Annex A of http://www.hfea.gov.uk/docs/Final_sex_selection_main_report.pdf). In relation to particular initiatives, where more specialist input is sought, organisations and professional associations consulted, as well as members of advisory groups and working parties, and their affiliations, are listed in relevant papers and reports. Insofar as this information is available on the Authority’s website, it is exempt from disclosure in virtue of s.21 FOIA.
Other lists of organisations from which the Authority has taken advice may be held with papers relating to the specific matters to which the advice relates. Records for the majority of the period during which the Authority has been in existence are held in long-term storage. The cost of identifying and extracting from these the information relevant to the request is estimated to exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 ('the Regulations').
Page last updated: 16 August 2012