Speeches by Leadbeater.

“Q Thank you for joining us this morning. I am interested in following up on what Dr Mewett said about the relationship with palliative care, which has an important role to play in end of life treatment. What is the relationship between assisted dying and the palliative care world like? Also, I would like to hear a bit …”

“Sorry. Dr Hussain: I really liked what you said yesterday; we need gold standard training. The thought yesterday about what happens with capacity made me think straight away about cases in the last few months where we, as a palliative care team, thought that someone had capacity, and the other team did not. That happen…”

“Q Was it a multidisciplinary board that Dr McLaren set up to look at the safety and quality of voluntary assisted dying? Dr McLaren: This was born out of when we started as a Victorian group. We were very individual and we interpreted the law in our own ways. We complied with it as best we could, but we did not have a …”

“I beg to move, That in the list of witnesses set out in the table in the sittings resolution agreed by the Committee on 21 January 2025 and amended on 28 January 2025, leave out “Professor Jane Monckton-Smith OBE” and insert “Hourglass”. Unfortunately, we found out in the early hours of this morning that one of our wit…”

“Q Thank you for coming to give evidence this morning—it is incredibly helpful. I am going to come back to clause 2 of the Bill, which concerns the definition of terminal illness. I am very clear on who the Bill is aimed at helping and who it is not aimed at involving. The definition says that the person has to have “an…”

“Q If I may, I have a question for Professor Esmail, but I will make an observation—I think I have a duty to do this, and to be the voice of some of the people we are talking about this afternoon: the terminally ill people who are dying. We talked a little bit about suicide earlier, but it is clear to me that the termin…”

“That is really helpful. Dr Mullock, do you want to add anything? Dr Mullock: I agree with most of the things that I am aware of that Professor Esmail just talked about. I would add that at the moment, people go sooner than they would wish to die because they have to go to Switzerland while they are still well enough to…”

“Q Thank you so much for giving evidence this afternoon. Perhaps I can provide a bit of reassurance, Baroness Falkner, on a couple of issues. The first thing I would say in terms of the Bill—”

“It will be a question. The Bill is very clear, in clause 2(3), that disabled people are not within its scope, but I would be really interested to know if there is anything you think we could add to make that clearer—I put that to Fazilet, too—because I want to be really clear about that, and I want to provide any reass…”

“Q Baroness Falkner, do you want to come in on the point about how we could make the Bill more robust in terms of those protections? Baroness Falkner: Can I just pick up the point about section 6 of the Equality Act 2010? That is clear, but it was not written with the intention of applying in these circumstances; it is …”

“Q You raise a really important point. There is a range of different views within the disabled community, and we heard some of them this morning. A professor of disability rights made the point that disabled people also do not want to be excluded from the Bill, because if you have a terminal illness and you are disabled…”

“Thank you.”

“On a point of order, Mr Dowd. I am slightly concerned that we are having a conversation about the process, rather than about the actual Bill. I am not sure whether that is in scope of the work of the Committee.”

“Q Thank you, witnesses, for joining us this afternoon. The good news for us all, on the palliative care conversation, is that we have in the room the Minister responsible for palliative care, who has heard those arguments loud and clear. Indeed, Second Reading showed that there is a huge amount of good will in the Hous…”

“Q To that point, in those conversations where patients are making very serious decisions, it is not uncommon that you would seek additional advice from other professions, such as a psychiatrist or possibly a social worker and other professionals, if you felt there was a need to do so. Professor Whitty: The further you …”

“Q Exactly, so although the terminology of “refer” might not be quite right, are we saying that we have got to provide that patient with a course of action? Dr Green: Yes. It is the “referral” word that is problematic for us.”

“Q That is very helpful. Let me turn to when the GMC guidance on arrangements about assistance to die is raised with practitioners. Part of the guidance is that practitioners have to “respect competent patients’ right to make decisions about their care, including their right to refuse treatment, even if this will lead t…”

“Q Thank you for coming and giving evidence today, and for meeting with me recently. You both represent organisations that have neutral positions on assisted dying. I am really interested in this multidisciplinary approach that you are talking about, and I think it is a really valuable conversation, so thank you for rai…”

“Q That is incredibly helpful, thank you. You are absolutely right to bring it back to patient autonomy—patient choice—so that, while putting all the safeguards in place, we are very clear that it is their genuine choice based on what they really want to do. It sounds as though you are saying—”

“Yes. It sounds as though you are saying that your professionals are trained to have those conversations, which is very reassuring. Glyn, do you want to add anything? Glyn Berry: Just to say that I absolutely agree with Professor Ranger. My experience of working with palliative nurses, and nurses in general, is long, an…”