TOI TE TAIAO: THE BIOETHICS COUNCIL

Minutes of Meeting held on 2 July 2007 at

Wellington Airport Conference Centre, Wellington

The meeting commenced at 9.30 a.m.

Present:         Associate Professor Martin Wilkinson (Chair), Helen Bichan, Rosemary Du Plessis, Chris Cunningham, Eamon Daly, Marie Bismark, Mark Fisher, Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop (from 12.30 p.m. to 3 p.m.), John Pennington, Dr. Cordelia Thomas, and Simon Wright.

1          Karakia and Welcome

Martin welcomed everyone to the meeting, and Chris gave a karakia.

John thanked Simon and Cordelia for the amount of work they have put in over the past few months: a very busy time.

2          Apologies

            Apologies were received from Waiora Port, and from Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop for lateness. John said that, on behalf of the Council, flowers had been sent to Waiora after her recent operation.

3          Minutes of Last Council Meeting

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 April 2007 be accepted as a true and correct record and be placed on the website, subject to the following amendments:

• In item 5, third paragraph, amend the date of the ad hoc Ministers’ meeting to 19 July;
• In item 8, amend the third bullet point to read: “Setting up ongoing website with links to the BEC’s website.”;
• In item 15, under the subheading “Public”, amend the organisation name to “National Council of Women”;
• In item 14, amend the fifth item to read: “Climate Change: Links to biotechnology – contribution to processes”;
• In Action List, amend ninth bullet point to read: “Send to Council presentation made to AROBAS.”

Chris Cunningham / Rosemary Du Plessis
CARRIED

4          Matters Arising from Previous Minutes (including outstanding items from Action List)

            The Action List was reviewed, and completed items noted.

            It was noted that the proposal to send one or two presenters to workshop at the UNESCO conference in Apia would be discussed as agenda item 7.

5          Acting Chair’s Report
Helen gave a report of her time as Acting Chair, highlighting the following points:

• She reported on her attendance at Wellington’s regional final of the secondary schools debating competition.
• The Navigator Network Steering Group had had its last meeting as a steering group as MoRST had decided to make it more of an in-house advisory committee. Helen said that it was important for the BEC to keep a representative on the group, but suggested waiting to see the new terms of reference.
• She and Cordelia had made a presentation to the Wellington group of Public Health Registrars to talk about public engagement processes.
• She, John and Cordelia had met with ACART to discuss ACART’s concerns about the apparent confusion of roles between BEC and ACART. This discussion had also covered wider issues about how the two bodies worked together. BEC Members discussed this wider issue, and Martin summarised the discussion by saying that the best scenario would be:
• having genuine co-operation with ACART;
• whether or not that was possible, BEC was confident it was well within its terms of reference in working in this area regardless of the views of ACART;
• BEC would give ACART early warning of its involvement in its type of issue, share material with ACART, invite representatives to talk to BEC, and, in principle, support the idea of involving ACART members where appropriate.
• the relationship was one of the issues worth raising at the ad hoc Minister’s meeting.

Martin said that he had received a thank you letter from the navigator network for BEC’s contribution to Stephen Rose’s visit.

6          Report of Pre-Birth Testing Working Group

            Rosemary said that in the past few months a huge component of the Secretariat’s work had been on the pre-birth testing project. She congratulated Cordelia, Simon, and John on the amount of work they had done. She went through the various stages of the project, saying that it was a very significant piece of work with many different dimensions.

            The participation stage in October and November would involve all Council Members, and it would be good if Council was also involved in the framing exercises in July and August. Council participation was included in the budget.

Martin thanked Rosemary and the Secretariat.

7          Sponsorship Guidelines

            Potential Criteria

• Value for money
• How an application fitted with core business.
• An inbuilt annual threshold for overall spend, financially and participatory.
• Equity
• An awareness of the current difficulty in getting engagement with the Pacific Island community

Process

• For each individual application, the Secretariat to provide an analysis of how the application could contribute to BEC’s strategic goals, and an accompanying recommendation.
• For an application that originated from a Council member, any potential conflict of interest should be declared before the discussion, and the Council Member should not take part in a vote on the decision. It would be at the discretion of the Chair whether the person remained in the room for the discussion or the decision.
• On the issue of conflicts of interest, John suggested that BEC Members reacquaint themselves with the policy manual and send him any additional thoughts.
• He would then converse with the Chair, and circulate a proposed sponsorship policy for discussion. Action: John

8          Decision List

1.         Health Research Council - Request from Ngamau Wichman-Tou, Manager Pacific Health Research, Health Research Council, for BEC to sponsor the Pacific Health Research Forum in August 2007

• What does the application have to do with biotechnology or the work of the BEC?
• It involves a community of interest that the BEC has had difficulties engaging with.
• Could use the opportunity to network.
• Suggest for the future earlier notice so speaker or workshop could be arranged.

Decision: Application declined on the ground that it has no direct relationship to BEC Terms of Reference; ask for earlier advice on any similar future conference.

2.         Health Research Council, Sponsorship of the Global Forum for Bioethics in Research 2008

• Issues to be discussed relate to biotechnology and ethical process.
• Groups involved in pre-birth testing could do a workshop that would draw attention specifically to what is happening here.
• Could increase profile of BEC nationally and internationally.
• In large part it is about involvement of indigenous people in health research, part of which could be biotechnology.
• More information on whether there is a biotechnology-related speaker.
• Timing – we might have interesting things to report on our process.
• What can BEC contribute to this?

Decision: Defer decision pending further information. Secretariat to come back with a recommendation.

3.         UNESCO, Apia - Proposal to fund the travel and accommodation of Peggy and one other to attend the UNESCO Ethics of Knowledge Conference in Apia –Rosemary gave the background to the proposal suggesting that the Council support Peggy’s attendance and possibly the attendance of someone else from Aotearoa New Zealand. She suggested that that person be Associate Professor Mere Roberts, who would not be receiving any funding from her institution. Alternatively it could be a person from another Pacific country who would contribute but who would not otherwise be able to attend. The BEC has a focus on the development of understandings about the CES issues associated with new biotechnologies, and some of the work done in Aotearoa New Zealand had been very innovative. The BEC could ensure that that experience was told about in the Pacific context. Whoever was funded would be expected to report back to the Council. It would result in a two-way flow of information.

(Rosemary, as Chair of the UNESCO Social Services Subcommission, left for decision.)

Decision: To approve the application for two persons to attend the conference on the basis of the potential to improve knowledge in the Pacific about CSE issues, and ask for a written report.
4.         Pacific Island Students’ Speech Contest
Decision: Agree in principle to sponsor contest subject to Secretariat working with Peggy on a topic and on details of sponsorship.

5.         Sponsorship of an Arts Project
Decision deferred.

6.         Annual Plan July 2007 – June 2008
John said that the basic strategies have not varied. This new plan reflects the actions the Secretariat will be undertaking for the pre-birth testing project.
Decision: Approval deferred

7.         Grant Gillet, Inter-church Bioethics Committee Proposal for funding the production of a booklet on spirituality and bioethics

Decision: Application declined but meeting acknowledged that the BEC has a responsibility to consider the spiritual aspects of new biotechnologies and the Council’s work programme in this area will be considered at a future “blue skies” meeting.

Meeting with Hugh Logan, Chief Executive

The BEC met with the Chief Executive of the Ministry for the Environment, Hugh Logan, and Prue Densem, Senior Manager.

Council Members discussed the issues raised during this meeting about potential work streams, in conjunction with the following agenda item.

9          Possible Work with ERMA

            John said he wondered if there was a potential for the BEC (with involvement from the Ministry) to approach ERMA about the possibility of collaborating on some of the tough issues they face. 

            The Secretariat was asked to think about possible topics involving ERMA and other organisations, then the Chair would meet with the respective Chairs or Senior Managers and report back to Council.

John said he would start this process by looking at the Ministry’s work programme and identifying areas, and he would contact managers within those areas to see if there is interest in looking further.
Action: John / Martin

10        Liability Insurance

            Marie said that there was no urgency to consider this today.

            Action: Cordelia and Marie to prepare a paper for the next meeting.

11        Official Information Act Request
John briefed the Council on this request.

12        Variance Report

            John said that the budget for the year was almost totally spent. The final figure was still to come. He would check the figures for Domestic Travel.
Action: John

            Chris raised the issue of whether the Council should be signing off on its budget and annual plan. Marie said that the budget committee had met earlier in the year. She said that the format of financial reports could be improved but it was constrained by the Ministry’s processes. It would be good over time to get expenditure more in line with projections.

13        Visit by Jonathan Lomas, Former Chief Executive Canadian Health Services Research Foundation

He talked about translating research into policy and about public engagement.

He said in Canada there were five generic areas of public engagement:

• How to get policy values to create the big policy questions. There were many ways, one of which in Canada was through the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Council, which was engaged in a deliberative process.
• Governance was now through an appointments process. In additional, regional health authorities were trying to create advisory councils, and there were also organised formalised community councils, trying to create social capital.
• Resource allocation approach - some at provincial level as well.
• Patient involvement and how would you restructure the research committees.
• Public opinion polls.

In the allocation of resources from a generic pot of money we have not yet figured out a mechanism to weigh appropriately the three different forms of evidence or data: traditional science, social sciences, and public preference.

14        Appointments
A Cabinet Paper had been drafted for the appointment of three new Maori members, and that was being circulated around departments. There would be one week’s consultation then it would go to the Minister for the Environment and he would take it to the Cabinet Committee on 19 July.

            Applications for the new Senior Adviser have closed.

15        Secretariat Report

            The report was tabled and noted.

16        Other Business

16.1     Ad Hoc Ministers’ Meeting
The Ministers of Maori Affairs, Health, Environment, and MoRST had been invited.

16.2     Budget
            Overheads
The Council asked John to approach Prue Densem to discuss how the Council’s overheads are calculated; to ask for clarification as to whether the Council’s overheads are proportionally greater than those of other areas of the Ministry and, if so, the reasons for this; and to ask for the process to be defined for the upcoming budget.
Action: John

            Role of Council in Signing-off Budget
            It was agreed that the Secretariat develop a budget, aligned with the Annual Plan, that it be examined by the Budget Working Group, and brought back to Council for a strategic overview and sign-off.

Action: Secretariat and Budget Working Group

            Budget Increase
Council said that, because of significant increases in the salary budget, and because there had been no increase in the budget for 4 years, it might be time to consider asking for a budget increase.

16.3     Conference Material on Governance

Rosemary distributed material on:

• The New Governance of Life: Challenges, Transformations, Innovations Conference – programme and final report.
• Engineering European Bodies – When Biomedical Technologies Challenge European Governance, Bioethics and Identities – Final Conference of the EU Project “Challenges of Biomedicine – Socio-Cultural Contexts, European Governance & Bioethics”.

Date of Next Meetings

3 September 2007
5 November 2007
The meeting concluded at 4.02 p.m. with a karakia from Chris.

Action list

• Consider the Ministry’s work programme to identify areas where BEC might work alongside the Ministry, contact managers within those areas to see if there is interest in looking further and report back to Council.

                                                                                                Action: John / Martin

• Develop a budget aligned with the Annual Plan, have it examined by the Budget Working Group, and bring it back to Council for a strategic overview and sign-off.

Action: Secretariat and Budget Working Group

• Approach Prue Densem to discuss how the Council’s overheads are calculated

                                                                                                            Action: John

• Check the figures for Domestic Travel in the variance report.

                                                                                                            Action: John

• Prepare a paper on liability insurance.                                                                                                                       Action: Cordelia and Marie
• Circulate a proposed sponsorship policy for discussion. Action: John
• Respond to sponsorship applications.  Action: Secretariat