Medicines and Medical Devices Bill — House of Lords, 2021-01-12
Topic: International Affairs
Joanna Penn (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I begin by thanking all noble Lords for their valuable and ongoing engagement on the matters raised by Amendment 13. Throughout the Bill’s passage, we have heard numerous passionate and heartfelt speeches on the allegations of organ harvesting in China and how the UK seeks to guard against complicity in any such practices. Anyone listening to speeches made by noble Lords in Grand Committee or this debate cannot have failed to understand the considerable strength of feeling behind those concerns. My noble friend Lord Bethell and I have greatly welcomed the thoughtful and constructive discussions on these issues Earlier today, the Foreign Secretary made an announcement setting out an ambitious package of measures that will help to ensure that no British organisations, whether public or private, are contributing inadvertently to human rights violations in Xinjiang. This demonstrates that we will not stand by as violations there continue. We will never hesitate to stand up for human rights as a force for good in the world The Government’s position is clear: if true, the practice of systemic, state-sponsored organ harvesting would constitute a serious violation of human rights. The China Tribunal report has been carefully considered by the FCDO and adds to a growing body of evidence about the disturbing situation that Falun Gong practitioners, Uighurs and other minorities face in China Given the considerable interest in these and related concerns over human rights violations in China, my noble friend Lord Ahmad, Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth, has met repeatedly a number of noble Lords with particular interest in these matters over recent months. I trust that these discussions have provided some assurance of the Government’s absolute commitment to strong UK action. The Minister, is, I know, committed to ongoing engagement in coming weeks During Grand Committee, the noble Lords, Lord Hunt and Lord Alton, made clear their view that the WHO should be further engaged to take more robust action and to provide greater transparency on organ transplant practices in China. I am pleased to tell noble Lords that continued efforts by FCDO Ministers to engage the WHO on these matters have led to a valuable meeting between senior officials at the UK Mission in Geneva and Jane Ellison, executive director for external relations at the WHO. These discussions have opened up dialogue with key international partners on organ harvesting allegations, which we are committed to continuing Crucially, noble Lords may know that my noble friend Lord Ahmad has committed to meeting Sir Geoffrey Nice QC in the coming months to discuss further the findings of his report. The FCDO is, I know, absolutely committed to considering carefully all and any evidence presented on allegations of organ harvesting in China. I want to take the opportunity on behalf of the Minister for South Asia and the Commonwealth to thank my noble friend Lord Ribeiro and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for their role in engaging international medical organisations on these matters I now turn to the specifics of the amendment tabled in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, to which I am pleased that my noble friend Lord Bethell has put his name. The amendment provides absolute clarity that the powers in Clause 2 of the Bill can be used to make regulatory changes about the use of human tissues or cells in legislation relating to human medicines While it is important to be absolutely clear that the use of imported tissue in any medicines on the UK market is extremely limited—there is only one licensed medicinal product in the UK that uses donor-derived tissues, and that tissue is sourced from within the EU—we are all in agreement that we would not want the UK medicines industry compromised by the use of human tissue or cells sourced through human rights violations. The amendment will ensure that we have the power to take action to amend or supplement provisions governing the use of human tissues in medicinal products in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 or the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004 to help assure the integrity of tissues and cells used in UK medicines if necessary The drafting, an iteration of the wording of a similar amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, in Grand Committee, delivers important clarity on a number of points. In particular, the specific reference to both tissues and cells provides certainty on the scope of materials captured. The reference to definitions of those terms under the Human Tissues (Quality and Safety for Human Application) Regulations 2007 ensures consistency with wider UK legislation I am also assured that this drafting allows for provisions to encapsulate the full stream of activities in the regulation of medicines that could relate to the use of tissues and cells. Of course, as with any such provisions brought forward under Clause 1 of the Bill, this would be informed by public consultation, a critical step in ensuring the full consideration of an appropriate approach and mitigating against any unintended consequences—for instance, for the supply or development of medicines in the UK Finally, I recognise that noble Lords have raised a number of other important, related questions on how we safeguard domestic practices from being at risk of compromise by human rights violations overseas. In these discussions, we have sought to be completely clear with noble Lords on the limitations of what can be done under this Bill. However, let me reassure noble Lords that concerns have not gone unheard First and foremost, on the consent standards applied to tissues imported for the purposes of public display, I am pleased to announce that we will take forward work to strengthen the Human Tissue Authority’s code of practice on public display for imported tissues. Although such imports are rare, we are committed to ensuring that when tissues are imported from outside the UK for the purposes of display, the consent standards applied are clear, firm and enforceable.