Lords votes through amendments to HRA transparency role

Peers in the House of Lords have attempted to refine the statutory duties of the Health Research Authority regarding research transparency.

The members voted to amend the care bill, which will establish the HRA as a non-departmental public body, to read that the body must promote transparency in research and that this includes promoting registration of research.

Liberal Democrat peer Phil Willis had wanted the point about the promotion of registration of research amended to replace research with  “clinical trials”, but the Conservative health minister Frederick Curzon argued that a wider definition was more suitable given that that the bill does not require the registration of research, merely the promotion of this.