Redfern Inquiry

Debate between Chris Huhne and Lord Darling of Roulanish

Tuesday 16th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Chris Huhne]

I thank the hon. Lady. I think that this is an issue on which we can all unite, in all parts of the House, in our frank shock at the events that took place, albeit many decades ago in many cases. I am able to give the reassurance that the hon. Lady seeks, and the reassurance to the public, that these events are historical and, as far as we can tell, are not taking place today; they would clearly be illegal. The Redfern inquiry sought assurances from all the key players—and indeed received those assurances—that there was nothing taking place today that would be similar.

In the course of the inquiry, as the report makes clear, it became obvious that the removal of organs from a limited number of people in fact related to only a part of the total. The right hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling), as the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, knew about that when the inquiry was commissioned. The inquiry points out that once we take account of other cases, the total is nearly 6,000 across the country. That is a very much greater figure than we thought at the time.

The hon. Lady is right to say that the Human Tissue Authority is to be abolished by the Government and its functions transferred to other bodies. I have spoken with my colleagues from the Department of Health on this point. Those functions will be transferred to other organisations and dealt with by the Department of Health. There will be no question of any relenting on the key functions that were set out for the Human Tissue Authority.

The professions have been engaged in conversations with both the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice. I am confident that the lessons of the report will be learned and that robust procedures will be put in place to ensure that such questionable practices do not recur.

The hon. Lady asked about current safety levels in the nuclear industry. I can assure her that we have a rigorous safety and inspection regime which is kept under constant review in order to make sure that safety levels are absolutely at the highest.

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I add my thanks to Michael Redfern for his very substantial report, which is far weightier and far more extensive than we anticipated when I commissioned his work three and a half years ago.

It is difficult to judge what happened over a period of 50 years—of course, standards, ethics and the law have changed very substantially—but does the Secretary of State accept two things? First, many people would acknowledge that there will be occasions when more investigation and research is necessary, but the key thing is that they should be involved in those decisions, they should know about the work, and they should be in a position to give or withhold their consent.

Secondly, although things have changed dramatically in the nuclear industry over the past few years, it does have a history of being less open than it should be. By being more open, it will build more confidence in what it does—an objective in which I believe, and in which I think the Secretary of State now believes as well.

[Chris Huhne]

I totally agree with both the right hon. Gentleman’s points. The key principle introduced in the Human Tissue Act 2004 was consent ahead of time. The legal situation before that allowed researchers to access human tissue without consent if they had made reasonable efforts to obtain it. That was a fundamental change, and I entirely agree that it was important for us as a society to move with the times and reflect the key family sensitivities involved. I also agree entirely with his point about the nuclear industry. Openness is usually the best disinfectant, and transparency is thoroughly desirable.