My Lords, I rise with some trepidation to follow such an expert, but there is a reason why I am speaking on this: I have six amendments in the group. Three of them deal with one issue that follows on quite neatly from what the noble Lord, Lord Winston, has just been talking about: to ensure that the Bill deals with the necessity of data banks, storing the necessary information about the clinical outcomes for both the animals used in the gene editing and their progeny. I will therefore speak first to my Amendments 24, 44 and 45, which all deal—probably in quite a clumsy way, but nevertheless a way to put this on the face of the Bill—with a requirement for a continuing record of clinical outcomes for the adverse and other effects on both the animals used by gene editing and their progeny. I am grateful for the support that I have had in tabling this amendment from the British Veterinary Association, particularly Professor Madeleine Campbell, who has been invaluable.
I draw noble Lords’ attention to the parallel piece of legislation, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, in which there is a requirement for the surrender of ongoing records containing the information about the impacts—both positive and adverse outcomes—on those individuals used under the terms of that Act. Indeed, there are stringent requirements in the Bill, subsequently set out in regulations, that make it clear that those have to be ongoing records for 50 years, because of the potential length of impacts on the progeny of the people involved in those medical interventions.
Given the importance of this new field of gene editing, we should ask for a similar requirement—certainly mentioning on the face of the Bill that an application to undertake gene editing must include plans to submit to the Secretary of State a continuing record of those outcomes. In the case that I just mentioned, the Secretary of State can make that information available for medical research. I argue that there needs to be a similar requirement for the Secretary of State to do so in this case. That is why, in my Amendment 24, I use the words,
“supply such records and other required information to the Secretary of State”.
This is specifically on that point, so that the information can be made available publicly for further medical research by veterinarians and others, to ensure that we get the benefits for the welfare of future animals.
I do not want to say too much more at this stage, because I have a number of other amendments, but I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for supporting me on this. Sadly, the noble Lord, Lord Trees, is not able to be here today, but he has indicated to me that he is supportive of such an amendment, and if I were to bring it back on Report he would indeed support it.
I therefore move on swiftly, so as not to detain the Committee too long, to my Amendment 50, which deals with the equally critical issue of the animal welfare advisory body. This is somewhat scantily referred to in Clause 22, which gives the Government the power under the negative procedure to say through regulations what this advisory body will do. This is a fundamentally important body, particularly for those of us concerned about the use of animals in gene editing. I seek to set out in this amendment some clarity about the role and membership of the body. I have tried to include experts beyond just those who have expertise in gene editing, to ensure that it is transparent and has some purchase with the general public with the inclusion of a lay member, and to ensure that it has sufficient budget and resources to do its job.
I was pleased that the Constitution Committee raised significant concerns about the scantiness of the information available about the animal welfare body and the need for greater transparency on this front. During the passage of the then Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, there was a similar degree of scantiness—I think that is the right word—about the committee that was meant to oversee that area. This House was able to persuade the Government of the case for putting more information about the sentience committee in that Bill. There is a parallel case for doing so here. It would give Members of this House, and, more importantly, the general public, far greater confidence about this important body. Again, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, for supporting me with this issue.
I move swiftly to my remaining two amendments, which follow on. Amendment 36 deals with the scope of the welfare advisory body. At the moment, the scope seems to suggest that this body can focus only on issues that have been raised by the notifier on the potential impacts on the welfare of the animals, not that it can go beyond those parameters to look at the wider risks that might reasonably be expected to be possible issues that might come up for the animals and their future progeny. With Amendment 36, I seek to say that the scope of the welfare advisory body’s concern should be broadened so that it can focus on issues that would “reasonably be expected”, rather than just on the issues that the notifier has given.
I am sorry for detaining the Committee for so long. As a follow-on to that amendment, my final amendment again picks up the point about the issues that ought reasonably to be thought about in terms of their effect on animals. I have noted those areas that ought to be in the Bill for the Secretary of State to think about, given that they are commonly adverse effects from selective breeding. It is therefore a reasonable expectation
that this would be the case in gene editing as well. However, I make it clear that I am not proposing that the amendment should limit the scope of the factors; they are just some of the ones that should be included. It does not preclude the Secretary of State’s right to go broader than that. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee was critical of this issue—how loose Clause 25 was in leaving matters to regulation that should be in the Bill. With that, I will sit down and be quiet.