The Human Tissue Bill is designed to ensure that the organ retention scandals of Alder Hey and Bristol Royal Infirmary can never happen again.

It is designed, the government says, to make consent the cornerstone for the retention and use of human tissue and organs, updating the Human Tissue Act 1961, which chief medical officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has described as "manifestly inadequate and out of date".

Donaldson described the proposals as attempting "to strike an acceptable balance between the rights and expectations of individuals and families, and broader considerations, such as the importance to the population as a whole of research, education, training, pathology and public health monitoring".

The government hopes that resulting public and professional confidence in the regulatory regime will mean that more people will be willing to agree to the "valuable uses of tissues and organs like research and transplantation".The bill establishes a penalty of up to three years in prison for the offence of removing, storing and use of human tissue for "unscheduled purposes". The legislation covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland ? but not Scotland, as it is a devolved issue.