Speeches by Leadbeater.

“On a point of order, Sir Roger. I am not sure that we have voted on amendment 202.”

“Further to those points of order, Ms McVey. I take on board people’s comments. There’s no two ways about it; this is a considerable amount of work for members of the Bill Committee to undertake. As has been alluded to, there are a wide range of amendments being proposed. The job of the Committee is to take evidence, lo…”

“I beg to move amendment 178, in clause 1, page 1, line 3, after “person” insert “in England or Wales”. This amendment provides that only persons in England or Wales may be provided with assistance in accordance with the Bill.”

“It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey, in this very important stage in the consideration and detailed scrutiny of the Bill. We are discussing assisted dying for terminally ill adults who have a clear, settled and informed wish to end their own life, and who have not been subjected to coercion o…”

“I do acknowledge that point—absolutely, as I have acknowledged, the role of a High Court judge is really important in this process. That role will remain with the amendment I have tabled. It will also take account of the very clear evidence we received during the oral evidence sessions from psychiatrists, social worker…”

“Q We have heard a lot from witnesses this week about safeguarding. That is something I am keen to pursue. The Bill has a significant number of safeguards already, but is there anything else that you think we could add? I think all on the Bill Committee are interested in hearing such ideas. In particular, we are thinkin…”

“Q I take that on board fully, so thank you for those helpful comments. In terms of capacity assessment, point 12 in the feedback and the written evidence from the Royal College of Psychiatrists mentions having multiple opportunities to assess capacity. To provide reassurance on that, those are in the Bill—I think there…”

“Q I wonder if you have been on your own journeys around your personal views on assisted dying and choice at the end of life. I have spoken to lots and lots of people about this, and anybody who has had experiences similar to yours are very clear that the law needs to change. People who have not been as close to this is…”

“Thank you so much. Pat Malone: My experience with my father was entirely different. My daughter, who was seven at the time, reminded me recently, when I was putting my thoughts together for this, that in his last weeks she had visited him, and I had taken her into a side room and told her not to expect to see the grand…”

“Q Thank you to the three of you for coming here this afternoon and telling your stories. I know how hard it is to tell your story over and over again. I think it is important to reflect on the fact that we have had a lot of talk this week about amendments, clauses and various other technical details, but this is the re…”

“Q I have a very quick question. Professor Preston, you talked about nurses. Again, feeding into this multidisciplinary approach, one thing I am really clear about is that we must have the best training in the world around those end-of-life conversations and end-of-life choice. Do you have any thoughts about what that t…”

“Q Thank you to the witnesses for joining us this morning. I would like to address my comments to Alex Greenwich, if I may, but also come back to Dr Furst and Professor Blake. It is really valuable for us as a Committee to hear your reflections on the experience of the process of passing this legislation. How did you ma…”

“Q This has been an incredibly helpful panel, so thank you for all your expertise. Let me come back to the content of the Bill, and to some of your points, Professor Owen. In terms of capacity and coercion, I think we are absolutely having these really important conversations. What concerns me a little bit, though, is w…”

“Q I think you have answered it, but it was whether there was any specific detail about the Human Tissue Authority, how it operates and what that looks like. Dr Price: I do not have lots of individual experience with that group, because I do not work within a specific service. But it is an example of a model that is in …”

“Q For clarity, Dr Ward, you are right that clause 34 requests that the chief medical officer submits an annual report. You clearly have many years of experience in this subject. For you, what does best practice look like when it comes to assisted dying, end of life choice and end of life care? That is what we are all a…”

“Q I will stay in the same territory, if I can. The Bill includes, very clearly, an opt-in model for doctors. I took that from the BMA, which was very clear on that, and I think it is very important. My slight concern, on which I would like you to expand, is about the removal of assisted dying from the holistic approach…”

“Q Can you give an example? What do you mean by that? Dr Richards: Misunderstandings of what it is? Fundamentally, that it is not based on the principle of autonomy and that it is something that can be done to you, without your consent. You would not want the general public to think that. At a very basic level, it is un…”

“That is really helpful. Dr Richards: I do not think there is any evidence that there is a loss of trust in doctors post legalisation—I just wanted to add that. As I said in response to the earlier question, this is a categorically new thing that would be coming into society, which would cause cultural change in how we …”

“Q Dr Hussain, I hear your concerns about the broader impact on society, and certainly in terms of ethnic minorities. Have you seen any evidence that that is an issue in other jurisdictions? The evidence we have heard is that people from ethnic minorities are underrepresented in assisted dying statistics, meaning that p…”

“Q On that point, do you think there could be better training around coercion?”