Speeches by Olney.

“Will the hon. Gentleman address the point that the requirement to refer for specialist psychiatric support is a requirement in similar legislation in other parts of the world—in Oregon, in California, in the state of Victoria in Australia, and in other jurisdictions that we heard evidence from? It is written into their…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman assert that it is therefore impossible for anybody with a mental illness that might affect their ability to make a decision about an assisted death to be judged to have capacity?”

“I believe I repeated several times in my speech that this is not about capacity; it is about mental illness.”

“I am grateful for that intervention and, dare I say it, for the one from the right hon. Gentleman. That is the whole point about eating disorders: there is a very fine line to be trod between people who have capacity, people who lack capacity and people who have capacity but who can still be allowed to make an unwise c…”

“The hon. Member is absolutely right. The Court of Protection has described eating disorders using language typically reserved for terminal illnesses. It has described an eating disorder as being in “the terminal stage”, talked of “all treatment options” having “been exhausted” and used words such as “incurable”. It is …”

“We need to consider the possibility that somebody is suffering from a terminal illness as a comorbidity with an eating disorder; they may be suffering from an eating disorder alongside something that can be considered a terminal illness—there are such cases. However, it is not unknown—and Chelsea Roff, an expert on eat…”

“Let me just reply to the hon. Member’s original point. It is so important—and this is why we need the amendment in the Bill—that if there is any doubt at all that someone is suffering from a treatable mental health condition, they are not allowed to proceed with their request for an assisted death until all avenues of …”

“That is why we need to ensure that people with eating disorders get the treatment they need, instead of being offered an assisted death. That is why we need the amendment.”

“I beg to move amendment 363, in clause 7, page 4, line 7, at end insert— “(ba) is not seeking assistance to end their own life because of an impairment of judgment arising from a mental disorder or other condition,”. This amendment would require that the coordinating doctor is satisfied that a person is not seeking ass…”

“It has been a privilege and an honour to engage with my many Iranian constituents over the years, but I am always filled with horror when they tell me stories not only of what is happening to their family and friends back home in Iran—particularly the oppression still suffered by many women—but of their experiences in …”

“It is a privilege to represent a substantial community of Hongkongers in Richmond Park. I notice from Hansard that I was last here two months ago to ask the Government about renewed reports of repression against Hongkongers in this country, yet here we are again and nothing has been done to reassure my constituents abo…”

“Would the hon. Gentleman not accept that a terminal illness in itself is a risk factor for an increased risk of suicide, and also that that risk is increased in the first six months following the diagnosis? That is the thinking behind the amendment.”

“For clarity, if the amendment specified a psychosocial assessment, would the hon. Gentleman be minded to support it?”

“I will not take up a huge amount of time, because a lot of what I wanted to say has been said in previous sittings, but I return to the issue of people who may request an assisted death who may also be suffering from a mental health condition. Amendment 271 was tabled by the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (…”

“I beg to move amendment 271, in clause 5, page 3, line 5, at end insert— “(1A) A person may not sign a first declaration within six months of being diagnosed with a condition which meets the requirements of section (2)(1)(a) unless they have received a psychosocial intervention in relation to their diagnosis with that …”

“I will speak in favour of new clause 4, tabled in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper). The amendment would require the Government to carry out an impact assessment on the changes that the legislation would introduce for small and medium-sized businesses. Small businesses are the backbone …”

“What sort of external expertise will you be seeking to inform the updating of the playbook?”

“Ms Gibbs, you talked about playbooks earlier. What about the current digital contracting playbook needs to change to make it fitter for purpose? How will the changes that are coming in as a result of the Procurement Act change your playbook to, hopefully, get to some of the outcomes that Mr Forzani is talking about?”

“Mr Knott, is the playbook a primary tool for driving through some of the change that we want to see here?”

“And specifically SME suppliers. This is not a purely Government issue, but there are some big players, and that really does squeeze competition. Are there opportunities to be engaging with the SME sector? How do you hope to leverage that?”