Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jane Ellison and Robert Flello

Tuesday 29th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

9. If the Government will establish a public inquiry into Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ contract with Concentrix.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Jane Ellison)]

The independent National Audit Office is carrying out an inquiry into the Concentrix contract and it plans to publish its report in early 2017. That is in addition to Select Committee and Public Accounts Committee scrutiny, which has been extensive to date and will no doubt be extensive in the future.

[Jane Ellison]

The chief executive of HMRC addressed that particular issue in one of his evidence sessions to a Select Committee. I hope the House will be pleased to hear that HMRC has taken back and completed all 181,000 cases from Concentrix and has now cleared most of the mandatory reconsiderations. [Interruption.] There are of course issues to consider. That is why the National Audit Office is carrying out its inquiry, which is already under way, and the Government will of course respond to its report in due course.

[Robert Flello]

The Concentrix scandal left huge numbers of people in hardship, and some of them are still paying off the debts to loan sharks that they took out to see them through. Ministers must have seen the complaints letters, and they must have seen what was in the media. Were they asleep at their desks? Were they just caught napping? Concentrix, HMRC and the Minister at the time need to be held responsible for this, and we need a proper inquiry.

[Jane Ellison]

I would make the point to the hon. Gentleman that a proper inquiry is exactly what the National Audit Office will be undertaking, and I am sure that the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) and her Committee will have that report in front of them in due course. This matter will be properly looked at in some detail. Over the course of the contract, considerable savings were made for the taxpayer in relation to fraud and error, but it is true that things went badly wrong towards the end of the contract, which is why swift action was taken.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Debate between Jane Ellison and Robert Flello

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

I beg to move,

That the draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015, which were laid before this House on 17 December 2014, be approved.

Mitochondria are present in almost every cell in the body and produce the energy we need to function. This is why they are often referred to as “the battery pack” of the cell. Unhealthy mitochondria can cause severe medical disorders, known as mitochondrial disease, for which there is no cure. The techniques provided for by these regulations offer the only hope for some women who carry the disease to have healthy, genetically related children who will not suffer from the devastating and often fatal consequences of serious mitochondrial disease.

First, I would like to bring the House up to date with the process followed since the principle of mitochondrial donation was first debated by Parliament during the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 in 2007-08. There has been much consideration of this issue in this Parliament. Over the last five years, there has been extensive engagement and consultation with the public on this issue, including an ethical assessment by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2012; a public dialogue and consultation exercise carried out by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in 2012-13; and a public consultation on draft regulations carried out by the Department of Health in 2014.

There have been three reports on the safety and efficacy of mitochondrial donation techniques by an expert panel convened by the HFEA which were published in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The expert panel members were selected for their broad-ranging scientific and clinical expertise, and for having no direct or commercial interest in the outcome of the review. Indeed, Professor Frances Flinter, a genetics consultant who works with affected families, has said:

“There has been more scientific review of this proposed process than any other medical technology.”

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

The Minister says that there is no point in further review, but the safety tests recommended by the HFEA in its three reports have not yet been completed, written up or peer reviewed. Does that sound like a completed analysis?

[Jane Ellison]

I will come to that point in my remarks.

There has been much parliamentary scrutiny of the proposals, including three parliamentary debates and over 200 parliamentary questions in both Houses. As part of this parliamentary scrutiny, the Science and Technology Committee held an evidence session on mitochondrial donation in October last year. Following the hearing, the Chair, the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller) who I see in his place, wrote to me on behalf of the Committee, expressing the opinion that there was sufficient information for Parliament to make an informed decision, and urging the Government to bring forward regulations. Given the extensive scrutiny in this Parliament, I believe it is right to allow this Parliament to decide whether to take the next step for mitochondrial donation, which can progress only with these regulations.

The two proposed techniques, maternal spindle transfer and pro-nuclear transfer, are covered by the regulations. They are about replacing the battery pack that contains a small number of unhealthy genes with a healthy battery pack. Mitochondrial DNA is just 0.054% of our overall DNA and none of our nuclear DNA, which determines our personal characteristics and traits and is not altered by mitochondrial donation.

I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the scientists at Newcastle university, who have led the world in the development of the new techniques—an area where Britain is at the forefront of life sciences.

[Robert Flello]

The Minister is extremely generous with her time. She says that these scientists are leading the way, but is she not aware of the work done in China over a decade ago in exactly this area? It was clearly pioneering, and it led to the Chinese Government outlawing the use of these techniques because of the appalling, tragic outcomes.

[Jane Ellison]

I am aware of that work, which has been the subject of extensive parliamentary questions. The expert panel considered all of those issues, including that piece of work, during the course of their deliberations.

Mitochondrial Transfer (Three-Parent Children)

Debate between Jane Ellison and Robert Flello

Wednesday 12th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Jane Ellison)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. With the limited time available to me, I will set out some of the process by which we got to this point, but it goes without saying that these are extremely serious issues. I listened respectfully to colleagues’ concerns. There were some technical interventions and I will get back to colleagues about any concerns that I cannot answer now.

This is exactly why we are having consultation, and why I can confirm that the matter will be debated on the Floor of the House. The regulations will be subject to the affirmative procedure and there will be every chance to return to the issue and to debate it in full. I give that assurance. I know that I will not have time to respond to some points that are technical and scientific and I do not want to get them wrong, so I will write to hon. Members after the debate.

[Robert Flello]

On that point, will the Minister allow me to intervene?

[Jane Ellison]

I have not said anything yet, but go on.

[Robert Flello]

When the debate does come before the House, right hon. and hon. Members will look at things such as Library briefing notes and Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology notes, which normally I commend in the highest terms. My concern about the POSTnote entitled “Preventing Mitochondrial Disease”, which is Number 431 from March 2013, is that it talks about people who oppose this as simply being in a pro-life camp. That sort of language is very unhelpful, because the opposition is far wider than that.

[Jane Ellison]

I did not write that brief. I have never used that language and I would not. I accept—indeed, it is right—that this will be a subject of parliamentary debate, because it involves important issues. Just as Parliament has previously debated advances in science, such as IVF, and considered and weighed in the balance the concerns and the potential benefits, so that will happen again. I am certain that people will come to their own conclusion. These matters are normally decided by votes of conscience. I would be very surprised if this matter was not decided in the same way; in fact, I am sure that it will be.

Let me try to respond to some of the points and at least go through the process by which we have got to this point. I should say, though, in response to the intervention that was picked up by colleagues that we will arrange parliamentary briefings with, for example, some of the scientists involved and with the chief medical officer. I hope to be able to give hon. Members the opportunity to put questions directly to some of the people involved. There will be opportunities at all stages along the way, I hope, for colleagues to ask questions and get answers. What they think of the answers will obviously be down to them, but we will try to make it possible for people to come to a very informed view.

I am grateful for this opportunity. I am grateful that hon. Members have had a chance to put some of their concerns on the record, because that helps us in preparing for debates ahead. It gives us a heads-up on some of the areas of particular concern. Obviously, I have also been receiving correspondence about the matter.

The chief medical officer for England announced last year that the Government would go ahead with the development of draft regulations to allow mitochondrial donation in treatment. The consultation began on 27 February and will run until 21 May. I have already recognised the deep sensitivity of these issues. Since we were first approached in 2010 to make the regulations, we have been comprehensively collecting expert opinion and public views, and I will explain how that has been done. However, I understand that for many hon. Members and for many members of the public, this will ultimately be an ethical question. There will be strong views on both sides of the House, as we have seen today.

My hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) touched on what mitochondrial disease is. It is a genetic condition of mitochondria—the part of the body’s cells that produces the energy that they need to function. It tends to be described, for the benefit of the general public, as the “battery pack” that powers a cell.

A person’s mitochondria come from their mother’s egg. Therefore, if a woman has mitochondrial disease, it is likely that she will pass it on to any children she may have. Mitochondrial DNA is separate from an individual’s genomic DNA, which is in the nucleus of the body’s cells. Mitochondrial DNA disease can be devastating, but the disease affects everyone differently. The range of different effects can include heart disease, liver disease, poor growth, loss of muscle co-ordination, visual and hearing problems and mental disorders. Rare conditions caused by faulty mitochondria include forms of Leigh’s syndrome, which can cause multiple symptoms in infancy, such as muscle weakness, heart and kidney failure and nervous system dysfunctions.

Some affected children live short and painful lives. They are constantly in and out of hospital. The quality of life for them and their families is seriously diminished. I have been contacted by a family in that position in my constituency and I suspect that other hon. Members will be as we continue to engage in this debate in the coming weeks and months.

The condition affects approximately one in 5,000 adults, although one in 6,500 babies are born with a severe form of the disease that can lead to death in early infancy. It is estimated that about 12,000 people live with a mitochondrial disease in the UK, and there is no cure. However, research has been ongoing at the Newcastle centre for life, among other places, for many years. In anticipation of significant advances in this field, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act was amended in 2008 to introduce a regulation-making power to allow mitochondrial donation to treat serious mitochondrial DNA disease. At the time that amendment was made, Parliament was made aware that there was the potential for these techniques to be developed. The Act was thus amended and that was included.

The mitochondrial donation techniques involve removing the nuclear genetic material from an egg or embryo with unhealthy mitochondria and transferring it to a donor egg or embryo with healthy mitochondria, as my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset said.