Minutes of the Meeting on 17 October 2007
Thu, 20 December 2007
Council (07) 4th Meeting
NUFFIELD COUNCIL ON BIOETHICS
Minutes of the Meeting held at 28 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JS on 17 October 2007 at 10.30am
PRESENT
Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC FBA (Chairman)
Professor Sir Kenneth Calman
Professor Sian Harding
Lord Richard Harries
Professor Peter Harper
Mr Anatole Kaletsky
Dr Rhona Knight
Professor Peter Lipton
Professor Alison Murdoch
Dr Bronwyn Parry
Professor Hugh Perry
APOLOGIES
Professor Roger Brownsword
Professor Ray Hill
Professor Søren Holm
Professor Tony Hope
Lord John Krebs
Professor Lord Raymond Plant
Professor Peter Smith
Professor Nikolas Rose
SECRETARIAT
Hugh Whittall, Harald Schmidt, Katharine Wright, Catherine Joynson, Carol Perkins and Julia Trusler.
The Chairman noted that Kate Harvey had joined the Secretariat as a part-time Information Officer.
This would be the last meeting for the Chairman and Professor Raymond Plant, who unfortunately had had to send his apologies.
MINUTES OF (07) 2nd MEETING
1 It was agreed that the Minutes were an accurate record of the meeting held on 26 June 2007.
MATTERS ARISING
2 There were no matters arising not dealt with as items on the agenda.
CHAIRMAN’S ITEMS
MEMBERSHIP Council (07) 28
3 The Director reported that the appointment of Council’s new Chair was nearly finalised and an announcement would be made shortly. He thanked the Chairman on behalf of the Secretariat for his contribution to the work of the Council and for all the support and time he had put into the position. On behalf of the Council, Professor Peter Lipton expressed how much Professor Hepple’s tenure as Chair had been appreciated. As well as ably chairing the Council, Professor Hepple had also chaired the Genetics and Human Behaviour Working Party and more recently the Forensic Use of Bioinformation Working Group. Members thanked him for his exemplary leadership and huge contribution to the work of the Council.
4 The Chairman reported that the Membership Panel had met on 26 September. The Council had received 41 applications from which a shortlist of 15 had been prepared. Applications had been invited from prospective members with expertise in cellular and molecular biology, philosophy, political science and public health. After some discussion it was agreed on who should be approached.
MAIN BUSINESS
THE ETHICAL REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL’S PUBLICATIONS Council (07) 29
5 Following on from the 2004 Forward Look meeting The Way We Reason, and other discussions, the Council had reflected in more detail at its meeting in January 2006 on the way ethical theories, frameworks, principles, and norms feature in its publications and it was agreed to commission a scoping review. Professor John Harris had been appointed to carry out the review jointly with his assistant Sarah Chan. The terms of reference of the review were at Annex A, and the final paper at Annex B.
6 The Assistant Director, Harald Schmidt, reported that the Secretariat had found the review helpful in highlighting which frameworks or principles featured most prominently in particular reports. The authors had noted some variation concerning the explicitness of ethical frameworks and had taken the view that overall the Council’s publications had on the whole moved from making primarily policy based recommendations to also considering underlying ethical principles. In the view of the Secretariat, the review had achieved the aims as set out in Annex A of the paper. Members of the Council welcomed the review and made a number of comments.
7 It was agreed that the review provided a good basis for going forward. However, it should not be applied rigidly or shackle a working party. The Secretariat would produce a draft document for consideration by the Council which would be based on the review and would set out the way in which ethics should feature in its publications. The document could be used as guidance for working parties, and peer reviewers.
8 It was agreed that the report should be placed on the Council’s website together with a response from Council, using the minute of the meeting as a basis.
9 It was observed that public concern and public understanding was not an issue that had been considered by the review. It was suggested that being more transparent and clear in describing how the Council went about its work could help with public engagement. The Council’s terms of reference included promoting public understanding and discussion. However, it was suggested that the Council could engage with a wider audience and it was agreed that it was important to consider how to explore public opinion and concerns in a useful and productive way. It was recognised that the use of methods such as opinion polls was very limited. It was agreed that a discussion paper on how to achieve a higher level of public engagement should be produced for Council.
WORKSHOP ON HEALTHCARE RATIONING Council (07) 30
10 The Assistant Director, Harald Schmidt, reported that the workshop on healthcare rationing would be held on 14 December. Professor Kenneth Calman had agreed to chair the event and a list of possible invitees was at Annex A of the paper. The Secretariat was preparing a background paper which would be circulated as part of the meeting papers for the workshop. They had been assisted over the summer by two interns, Sarah Clarke, a PhD student in social policy at the University of Essex and Rachel Tsang, a recent graduate of the Government Department at the LSE, who had both made valuable contributions. It was agreed that the Assistant Director would finalise the list of invitees with Professor Calman and Anatole Kaletsky.
WORKING GROUP ON BIOINFORMATION FOR FORENSIC PURPOSES
Council (07) 31
11 This session was chaired by Professor Peter Lipton who reported that the launch on 18 September had received a very favourable reception. The Chairman of the Council, in his capacity as Chair of the Working Group, thanked the Secretariat for their hard work, in particular Catherine Joynson, Caroline Rogers, Katherine Wright and Carole McCartney for making the project a success.
12 It was agreed that having the media briefing the day before the launch was a very successful strategy. At the launch members of the Working Group had presented the findings of the Report to an audience of approximately 80 people, with a good cross section of individuals and organisations including the Home Office, the police, the Information Commissioner’s Office and other various stakeholders and members of the public. The Report had received very favourable coverage in the media. It had been widely reported in the print and broadcast media, including the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and BBC and Sky television.
13 On 25 September, a lunchtime fringe event had been organised by the Secretariat at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth to discuss the Report with MPs and other delegates. The Chairman reported that this had been a valuable exercise and Meg Hillier MP (Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office) had been present and welcomed the Report.
14 Further activities were planned including talks at the Forum of National Ethics Committee in Lisbon, and the British Academy of Forensic Sciences was organising a seminar for its members and other interested individuals to discuss the Report on 5 December. A short version was also being prepared.
WORKING PARTY ON PUBLIC HEALTH: ETHICAL ISSUES Council (07) 32
15 The Assistant Director, Harald Schmidt, reported that the final text of the Report had been approved by the Chair of the Working Party and the Chair of the Council and had been sent for copyediting and typesetting in August. The Report was due to be launched at a public seminar on 13 November with a media briefing scheduled for the previous day. There had been a very good response of those wishing to attend the launch, which meant that the venue may have to be changed for one with a larger capacity. The Secretariat was currently in the process of preparing a short version of the Report, a draft version of which was at Annex A. Members were asked to forward any comments on the short version to Carol Perkins.
WORKING PARTY ON NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES Council (07) 33
16 The Assistant Director, Katharine Wright, updated members on the progress in establishing the Working Party. The membership had been finalised and a complete list was attached at Annex A. It was noted that many of the invitees had commented on the importance and timeliness of the topic. The draft terms of reference discussed by the Council in June had been further amended in discussion with the Chair of the Working Party and the Chairman of the Council and members were asked for any comments. The first meeting of the Working Party was due to take place on 15 November. It was commented that the representation of carers and nurses on the group was very important.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
APPOINTMENT OF A NEW CHAIRMAN
17 See paragraph 3 under Membership Council (07) 28.
FUTURE ISSUES SUBGROUP Council (07) 34
18 The Assistant Director, Harald Schmidt, reported that in addition to the Council’s Forward look meeting, members had agreed to the establishment of a Future Work Subgroup, whose task would be to carry out horizon scanning on a more regular and structured basis. The paper outlined the proposed approach and invited members to comment on and agree the proposals.
19 The Subgroup would comprise of four to five members of Council and it was reported that Professors Roger Brownsword, Søren Holm, Peter Lipton and Nikolas Rose had already agreed to be involved. It was noted that interim updates would be provided to Council and there would be reports back at the January and October meetings. It was suggested that it would be important to have a scientist on the group and members were asked to let Harald Schmidt know if they would like to be involved. It was suggested that the Group should consider holding at least one meeting a year.
REACHING OUT TO YOUNG PEOPLE Council (07) 35
20 The Chairman reported that because Professor Calman’s term on the Council ended in January 2008, a new Chair of the ROYP Group would be needed. He thanked Professor Calman for his contribution to the Group and welcomed his continued involvement as a co-opted member. Dr Rhona Knight was welcomed as the new Chair.
21 Professor Calman welcomed Jenny Wales, Director of Education for Citizenship, Nuffield Curriculum Centre to the meeting to present the teaching resources on animal research that had now been finalised. She explained that the resources were aimed at 14 to 19 year olds for use in citizenship and science lessons. She demonstrated how the activities could be used in different ways in the classroom.
22 Members welcomed the materials and agreed that it was an excellent way of reaching young people and engaging them in bioethics. It was agreed that future reports should also be considered for producing teaching materials and public health would fit in very well with the science and citizenship curriculum. It was agreed the Reaching Out to Young People Group would consider whether the resources should incorporate the Council’s logo.
23 The strong link with the Curriculum Centre was welcomed and felt to be an important way of engaging further with the public. Dr Rhona Knight reported that the Reaching Out to Young People Group had discussed how the Council might involve more young people in its consultations and it was proposed that teachers at 20 specialist schools in the London area would be recruited and trained to take part in consultations of the Council. The next consultation, which would be on neurodegenerative diseases in spring 2008, would be used as a pilot. Teachers from the schools would be invited to an introductory training day, where they would be provided with the skills to run an ethics debate in the classroom and discuss the issues raised by neurodegenerative disease in particular. A feedback session would be arranged in the summer. Members agreed to pilot extending the consultative phase in this way and it was noted that the necessary funds could be identified within the Council’s current budget.
TO REPORT
CRITICAL CARE DECISIONS IN FETAL AND NEONATAL MEDICINE: ETHICAL ISSUES
24 The Assistant Director, Katharine Wright, reported that a seminar to discuss the Council’s recommendations in the Critical care decisions Report was being organised for 13 December. The aim of the event was to encourage cooperation between the various organisations that the recommendations had been aimed at.
FINANCIAL REPORT FOR YEAR TO AUGUST Council (07) 36
25 It was noted that the financial report currently showed an under spend. It was explained that the Council was able to carry over any under spend into the next financial year within its five year funding period. Additional projects to those set out in the funding bid had also been identified.
COUNCIL’S DRAFT WORK PLAN FOR 2007 AND 2008 Council (07) 37
26 The Council’s Work Plans were received and noted.
QUARTERLY BULLETIN Information (07) 07
27 This paper was noted.
WEB REPORT Information (07) 08
28 The web report figures were noted.
Last Updated Thu, 20 December 2007