Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Statutory Storage Period for Embryos and Gametes) Regulations 2009

The second chairman. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Winston. The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, is as concerned as I am about the practical as well as the medical considerations. To move from 10 years to 55 is not proportionate to the need to store. There are human rights implications for those who are unlucky enough to be unable to have children themselves, to be able to store perhaps for their own future or that of their daughters or, possibly, sons. But there should be a proportionate limit on how long this should be for families who have the right to respect for family life under the European Convention on Human Rights. As the noble Earl, Lord Howe, said, there are a considerable number of loopholes in the proposals for saviour siblings, which I shall not go into as I would waste the time of the House. As only one of the couple needs to be prematurely infertile, one could easily be 40, 45 or 50 and the other might be considerably older. Although the clinic will give advice as to suitability, it does not have the right to say that the couple who wish to have the child are unsuitable because of age. That is another very difficult matter. I do not think that the sympathy one has for the unhappiness, distress and unfairness of life that some people are unable to have children should be allowed necessarily to sway the other situation on whether 55 years is right. This is a very unsatisfactory increase and I hope that the Minister will reconsider whether this is the appropriate way to go forward.