Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of guidance provided to patients on their (a) rights and (b) options for the (i) storage and (ii) future research use of their tissue samples.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring that patients are fully informed about their rights, options, and choices regarding the storage and future research use of their tissue samples. The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) Code of Practice and Standards on Research aims to provide anyone undertaking activities relevant to this sector with a reference source which gives practical advice on the minimum steps necessary to comply with the relevant legislation and HTA policy. The code was updated in February 2025.

The HTA licenses and inspects organisations that collect human tissue. Their role is to make sure that organisations remove, store, and use brains, bodies, and tissues in an appropriate, respectful, and well-managed way, and that the wishes of individual patients and their families are respected. The HTA licensing standards establish consent as the fundamental legal and ethical requirements for the removal, storage, and use of human tissue.

The HTA’s regulatory framework helps ensure that tissue is stored to high standards, to be of most use to healthcare training and research.