Speeches by Leadbeater.

“Further to the comment from the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire, all of that will obviously be recorded on the patient’s medical records as well. The idea that it is not being recorded is just not correct.”

“My hon. Friend would not meet the criteria. She might be describing a condition that cannot be reversed, but it is the “inevitably progressive” part that we are talking about. Because it can be treated, it is not an “inevitably progressive illness, disease or medical condition”.”

“My hon. Friend cites some interesting observations from the oral evidence, and I welcome his doing so. I draw his attention to my amendments 186 and 198, which look at the training. This is something I feel passionately about. If the Bill were to pass, having gold standard training would be vital, as I said during that…”

“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 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 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 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 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 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 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…”

“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 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 …”

“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 …”