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747 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She has brought up that case a number of times in various debates on the Bill. In this context, part of the provision—in terms of the…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)It is important to look at this issue in the context of what my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley is setting out to do through the legislation, and what the panel’s function…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)The right hon. Lady is absolutely right that we do need clarity. As my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley has made clear, the intention is for the legislation to apply across…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. She has heard the Government’s position on the operation of the Bill. As I said, it is important that, in the event that this…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I appreciate the passion and force with which the right hon. Lady makes that point. I have set out the Government’s concerns about deliverability—the operational challenges around…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)]The right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd and the hon. Members for Chesham and Amersham and for Harrogate and Knaresborough have all put their case incredibly powerfully. In…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)To be absolutely clear, what we are discussing reflects the intent of my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley. It is important to break it down. We have a judge in the role of…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)As I understand it, everything has to be internally coherent in whatever the final draft of the Bill is. Within this structure, because in this case it is a panel that issues the…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Care and I have made clear throughout debate, the Government continue to remain…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Under the Bill as drafted, a panel and the commission are not invested with powers of summons, and the evidence that is heard and requested is…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)The answer is yes. I, on behalf of the Government, am satisfied that that would be commonly and well understood by those applying it, and any court construing it, that the…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I thank hon. Members for their interventions. In respect of the standard that would be applied in order for the panel to be satisfied, in practice, as I was saying, the panel…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I drew the comparison for the purpose of showing where judges and legal experts are deployed in a multidisciplinary forum that is not a court or tribunal. I was not suggesting…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for that encouragement. The Government’s position throughout the entire process, in so far as we have worked with her on these amendments and others to give…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)The hon. Gentleman’s first point is a matter for the impact assessment itself. Clearly both Departments have data on the state of the professions, on how many KCs there are in the…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)There is no doubt that, as we will see later, the panel would be subject in all its decisions to public law principles, including procedural propriety. The absence of any…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I anticipate that members of the professions will apply to be members of the panel. There will have to be a recruitment process, which is something that the commissioner, who is…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)I think the hon. Lady is right that that is not specified as a requirement. All three panel members would be drawn from the relevant professions and would therefore be subject to…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)We are discussing how to construe the provision in paragraph 5 of new schedule 2. I should reiterate that, obviously, it is the promoter’s intent to have—hon. Members may call it…12 Mar 2025HANSARDTerminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Twenty-third sitting)That might be something that other hon. Members wish to take away with them, whatever the policy intent may have been. In fairness, I do not think that the question of whether…12 Mar 2025