Speeches by Shah.

“I am happy to, Mrs Harris. We should be determined not to see big outsourcing companies bidding for assisted dying contracts and then potentially misusing them the way in which they have misused other public services. That is not because I am opposed to firms operating in a free market or making money when they do thei…”

“Amendments 450 and 451 were tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central. Let me first set out broadly what the amendments would do. They would mean that the reports of the chief medical officers for England and Wales had to include qualitative as well as quantitative data on assisted deaths. Subsection (2) of …”

“It is interesting to follow the hon. Member for Richmond Park, because I rise to speak to amendment 537, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley. The amendment goes further than the hon. Member for Richmond Park would as far as local authorities are concerned. The amendment also concerns both the national healt…”

“I will re-read it. It is, “including where the person is in an intimate or family relationship with that other person”. The “family relationship”, I think, means that it is extended to siblings. That was my interpretation. Last week, or the week before, we spoke extensively about suicide, and women in particular. The n…”

“Under the Bill as presented on Second Reading, the Secretary of State would have to report to Parliament on how the assisted dying system was functioning, but they would do so only after the system had been in operation for five years. Under amendment 452, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central, the Secre…”

“I will come on to that point. As I have said previously, this Bill will not just create a VAD commissioner, but give them the power to assess their own work. That means it is much less likely they will critically assess the data for any signs of a major problem. We all suffer from unconscious bias, even the very senior…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her detailed explanation. She makes sense—I would not want to restrict that either. Perhaps she is entirely correct—no doubt she has researched it well—but clause 26 mentions coercion and pressure. It says all of that on the face of the Bill. My hon. Friend wants to leave it in that context— …”

“While I appreciate that it is not necessarily a duty as defined in law, does the Minister not agree that, given the way our Government operates, we need that data to inform us, in order to improve services elsewhere? We could apply that to this Bill as well.”

“I rise to speak to amendment (b) to amendment 518, and amendment (b) to amendment 520. Although I appreciate that my hon. Friend the Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge is not pressing her amendments to a vote, it is important to get a few things on the record. I am speaking to these amendments to her amendments beca…”

“I stopped myself intervening on my hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland Central; I had lots of questions, and he has confused me even more. He referred to the provision in clause 8(6)(d) about the doctors being different. If I am right, healthcare providers such as Aspire or Ramsay Health Care could be commissioned to…”

“When it comes to NHS providers, or any service providers, and contracting or outsourcing, we have legislation in this place for whistleblowing. I raised the subject with the Health Secretary in relation to my local trust only today. With the best will in the world, mistakes happen. We legislated to protect whistleblowe…”

“I was talking about amendments 450 and 451 and explaining why we should take an approach that involves understanding who the people who access assisted dying are, where they live and to which groups they belong. We have heard frequently from some hon. Members that assisted dying in other countries is disproportionately…”

“I will get back to the point, Mrs Harris. Serco and G4S carried on getting huge public contracts because the Government found it too hard to replace them. Assisted dying would also be a specialised service.”

“From a public health perspective, we have been having a huge debate for weeks and weeks about whether or not this is a health intervention and whether it should be provided in the NHS or elsewhere. When I was a public health commissioner, we collected socioeconomic data to learn about not just protected characteristics…”

“I rise to speak to amendment 382. My hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley may argue that some of my criticisms of the amendment relate in particular to two other amendments she has tabled: amendments 455 and 456. Indeed, I took an intervention on the matter earlier. I have read those amendments and they do not answer…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I have observed two things this morning. First, the reality has really hit home. Are we going to look at the amendment regarding local authorities providing the service? Are we excluding private providers? Are we excluding big firms? A new service has to be designed. Will i…”

“My hon. Friend says that this will be explicitly commissioned. I completely agree with everything he has said, but this will be a newly designed service by definition, so will that not leave the door open for new providers, such as Serco or G4S, to come in, design a new service and bring in the expertise to deliver it?”

“Amendment 447 was tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central; I also speak in support of amendment 523, which was tabled by the hon. Member for East Wiltshire and helpfully clarifies amendment 447. My understanding was that the Bill’s promoter indicated that this was something she would support; I am happy to…”

“I beg to move amendment 447, in clause 30, page 18, line 12, leave out “may” and insert “must”. This amendment requires the Secretary of State to issue Codes of Conduct.”

“My hon. Friend makes a valid point; that is an issue. If we are going to do this right, are we going to be looking at all six characteristics? That is important, so I agree with him.”