Speeches by Francis.

“I will not come back on anything but, obviously, I will press some of these amendments in due course. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Amendment proposed: 294, in clause 7, page 4, line 5, after “doctor” insert “based on provided evidence that”.—(Daniel Francis.) This amendm…”

“As my hon. Friend will know, my name is down as a supporter of amendment 6. I will get to that in due course. At the moment, I am speaking to amendment 284. I hear what my hon. Friend says—I am talking about the merits of amendment 284, but will get to amendment 6 in my closing comments. On amendment 284, if a doctor h…”

“Absolutely. This amendment, of course, is widely supported by Committee members for that very reason. As I was saying, we already use that assessment for organ donation, and Members supporting this amendment believe that should be the case for those that are seeking an assisted death. I now move on to amendment 284, in…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend about the number of amendments in this vein, but clearly the amendments suggested by my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch bring us into line with existing regulations. In her evidence, Dr Cox said: “If we look at the evidence of suicide, we know that it is increased in …”

“I will not press amendment 347 to a vote, but I will speak to it, and to this group of amendments. First, I shall turn to amendments 14 to 19, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), which would require a co-ordinating doctor to refer the patient to an independent psychi…”

“I beg to move amendment 347, in clause 7, page 4, line 4, leave out from “to” to the second “the” in line 5 and insert— “ensure that steps have been taken to confirm that”. This amendment would remove the emphasis on the role of the coordinating doctor in making these assessments.”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. It would be remiss of me not to comment briefly on new clause 8, given that throughout this process I have consistently raised issues around evidence given by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and given that new clause 8 states that before making a rec…”

“I hear that, and I think my hon. Friend and I are on the same page on many of these matters. I think there were some drafting issues when I discussed amendments with Mencap at an earlier stage. I commend to the Committee the six amendments in my name in this group: new clause 12 and amendments 336, 337, 335, 340 and am…”

“I would welcome that as a positive step forward—I think there is probably still some work to do in that regard. My hon. Friend and I will have conversations on the wording of that future amendment, but at the moment we are discussing the amendments that stand before us. Any future amendments that may be tabled are not …”

“I rise to speak to the amendments in my name—namely, new clause 12 and amendments 336, 337 and 335. Yesterday, we spoke about the evidence we received from the British Medical Association. I accept that there is some crossover between my amendments and the amendments of the Bill’s promoter, my hon. Friend the Member fo…”

“Thank you for letting me speak, Mr Dowd. I will be brief. As we reach the end of our debate on clause 4, I regret some of the decisions that we have made. I welcome the fact that in due course we will discuss amendment 418, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley, which also relates to the preliminary …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Dowd. I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley has said that she is minded to accept amendment 341. I will, however, still briefly speak to amendment 338 and new clause 13, which stand in my name. The British Medical Association has said that it strongl…”

“I echo the points that have been made about the importance of the initial conversations, particularly for those who do not have English as their first language. I made a commitment to my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich that in his absence I would press amendments 414 and 415 to a Division, as he requested. I support…”

“I beg to move amendment 322, in clause 3, page 2, line 13, at end insert— “except that— (a) for the purposes of an assessment of capacity under this Act, a person must be assumed not to have capacity unless it is established they do have capacity, and (b) section 1(3) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 shall not apply.” T…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. Of the three amendments in my name, I come first to amendments 319 and 320. Clause 1 outlines that the legislation relates to a terminally ill person who “is aged 18 or over at the time the person makes a first declaration”. It does not, however, refer to the …”

“I hear that. There are different decisions, whether it is buying a coffee or seeking an assisted death. Would my hon. Friend concur that, for some individuals in those scenarios who may be by themselves because of the circumstances of their lives and about whose capacity there may be doubt, the doctor must presume in t…”

“In the evidence from Mencap and in large swathes of the written evidence, we have heard grave concerns from communities representing people with learning disabilities about how this legislation was enacted during covid, particularly with “do not resuscitate” notices. Evidence shows that people with learning disabilitie…”

“I will not speak for long. I spoke in great depth about my amendment and other amendments this morning. Over the past few weeks, hon. Members will have heard, long and hard, about where I come from on the clause stand part issue. This has been one of my greatest difficulties. It drove me to oppose the Bill on Second Re…”

“The Mental Capacity Act code of practice outlines that following a court judgment, there is a separate capacity test for making a will or a gift, entering into a contract, litigating and entering into a marriage. It outlines, in paragraph 4.50, specific legal tests on top of the mental capacity assessment. Will the Min…”

“I will read paragraph 4.50 of the mental capacity code of practice: “For certain kinds of complex decisions (for example, making a will)”— and the others I have just mentioned— “there are specific legal tests…in addition to the two-stage test for capacity.” It already exists within our law; for other tests, there is an…”