Speeches by Richards.

“I am grateful to the hon. Member, who has a remarkable ability to bring that important issue into any debate or intervention he makes. He is the most vociferous campaigner on that cause. I support him in that, and I know the Minister will also be listening. I want to finish with the action I will take as the local MP. …”

“Absolutely, and my hon. Friend has done so much admirable work in this area, long before my time in the House, so I can only learn from her. One point about suicide and male suicide is that an array of policy issues feed into it. This should not be a policy concern for the Government in silo; it should be part of every…”

“There is a direct link and we should not shy away from acknowledging, confronting and talking about it. When we talk about tackling poverty, we are talking about saving lives, too. Secondly, we must save our NHS. This Government inherited a dilapidated health service and a particularly severely under-resourced mental h…”

“That service in my hon. Friend’s constituency sounds vital—just like those in my constituency. The focus on veterans in particular is critical. Suicide does not simply affect the person taking their own life. Families lose loved ones and towns and villages are scarred by the traumatic loss of people with great promise …”

“I agree with the hon. Member, who makes a characteristically pithy point. John Leaver, who does incredible work with men in tough times in Kiveton Park and Wales in my constituency, is in many ways the inspiration for the debate and the campaign I intend to run in Rotherham. John works with men and women, but has exten…”

“My hon. Friend makes a good point. Just on Friday, I had the Defence Secretary, who is with us today, and the Veterans Minister in Dinnington to speak with veterans groups and organisations. Mental health provision was right at the top of the agenda, as it should be. Beyond each individual tragedy is a wider story. The…”

“You intimated, Mr Dowd, that we can speak for as long as we want, but I will not speak for long on this clause, partly because I fear that we are making a mountain out of a molehill. The clause creates new criminal offences; I am not a criminal lawyer, but that is my reading of the clause and the amendments tabled to i…”

“My intervention is on something completely different. I have been reminded that in Australia, there is a specific clause that relates to the provision in this amendment almost word for word, so I think the hon. Member for East Wiltshire may have been incorrect in his comments.”

“I welcome the amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley. As I think she accepts, given that she tabled the amendments, there is an oddity with the Bill as drafted that has to be fixed, and I think the amendments would do that. I appreciate that there is some force to the argument of the hon. Member…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman appreciate that, although this is different from the healthcare services we currently have, we have a legal framework that deals with many of these conflicting issues as and when they arise in lots of different circumstances that are not completely adjacent to these?”

“5. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the mineworkers’ pension scheme on the living standards of the recipients of that pension.”

“At the last general election, I made a promise to ex-miners in my constituency that a Labour Government would deliver justice on the MPS investment reserve fund and return it to its members. I am delighted that at the end of last year, this Government delivered, providing a boost of more than 32% to their pensions. How…”

“Forgive me, Chair.”

“I know that the hon. Lady has been on her feet for some time, but I just want to explore the difference between what a jury is doing and what this panel is doing. Let us, for example, consider the issue of coercion and a case where there is no evidence that the person is being coerced in any way, but of course the pane…”

“I have a genuine question: is the hon. Lady of the view that families’ views about whether the decision is right for the individual should be considered by the panel, tribunal or judge, or is it just their views about eligibility under clause 1?”

“I have been rightly and fairly challenged in the hon. Member’s speech, but the difference is that if a family member has a right to appeal in the internal process, that family member would have to be a party in the original hearing. The whole point of the panel is that a person comes to it with their application. The f…”

“It came up in the debates last week that we heard some evidence from medical practitioners on how decisions and assessments were better made when done collaboratively. That means that we need to keep them independent but that, where possible, doctors should be working together in this process. Does my hon. Friend agree…”

“In my mind, any decision to give a certificate of eligibility could be subject to judicial review. Third parties can put evidence before the panel to be considered, but it is not right that third parties might challenge the application. As I have set out before, this is not a dispute but a rigorous safeguarding process…”

“I agree, and I hope to deal with some of the points that my hon. Friend made in her important speech. To mandate that a barrister instructed by the Official Solicitor, or indeed the panel, has to put questions to a person who may have only a few weeks left to live is not only highly inappropriate, but unworkable. What …”

“That is an important point, because the change, as drafted in the various amendments, provides for real flexibility. That may cause others some concern, but to my mind it is a reassurance, because it will mean that a weighty figure, the commissioner, will be able to set out rules and regulations for the process to make…”