Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness Levitt

Committee stage
Friday 27th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, I shall speak very briefly to the amendment in this group in the name of my noble friend Lord Wolfson of Tredegar. His Amendment 913A seeks to probe an issue raised by a number of noble Lords in this debate: namely, the means by which the assisted dying commissioner may be held accountable. As the Bill is drafted, and as we have heard, the commissioner is appointed by the Prime Minister. In his amendment 124, my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier would have them appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. The point that the amendment addresses is that, whoever appoints the commissioner, there ought to be a clear accountability mechanism and a process whereby concerns about the conduct of the commissioner can be investigated in response to formal representations. My noble friend suggests that representations might be made to the Prime Minister, but I would be very interested to hear from the noble and learned Lord what thought he and his co-sponsor have given to the way in which the commissioner will be held to account.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Levitt) (Lab)]

My Lords, given the size of this group and the need to keep my remarks within the speaking limit, I have taken a rather different approach to the structure of my speech, which I hope your Lordships will find helpful. Rather than going through the amendments thematically or in chronological order, I will structure my speech by first setting out some observations about the legal implications of some of the amendments. Then, I will outline what the Government see as operational workability issues presented by some amendments and, finally, I will turn briefly to drafting considerations. Essentially, I will be flagging issues by theme, but if your Lordships have any further questions relating to the workability of any amendments, I will be very happy to write to set out the Government’s views in more detail and place a copy in the House Library. I will not comment on all the amendments. If I say nothing about a particular amendment, it is because the Government have no concerns.

As my noble friend Lady Merron, the Health Minister, and I have set out many times, the Government’s position remains that it is for Parliament to consider the policy, so I will not be providing a government view on the merits of any proposed changes or make any observations in a personal capacity.

In other debates on the Bill, your Lordships have asked how the Government plan to implement it. I will set this out at the outset. The Government have not undertaken any detailed implementation work that would precede the parliamentary process. Should Parliament pass the Bill, the Government will then undertake detailed work to develop a delivery model, which would involve engaging with stakeholders and delivery partners, including the judiciary. To answer the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, this relates also to NHS England and providers, although your Lordships may wish to note that the Bill does not specify where the provision of assistance may or may not take place.

A number of your Lordships, including the noble Lords, Lord Harper and Lord McCrea, the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, and the noble Earl, Lord Howe, asked about the role of the Prime Minister. I remind the Committee that this is a Private Member’s Bill, so the proposal to designate the Prime Minister as the person who is to appoint the voluntary assisted dying commissioner was made by the sponsor, not the Government. It has nothing to do with the Government. It is up to noble Lords whether they wish to retain that provision.

The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, asked me to confirm whether the standards in the Cabinet Office governance code would be adhered to. If it is the will of Parliament that the Prime Minister is the person who is to appoint the commissioner, the standard recruitment arrangements for prime ministerial appointments will be followed. These are made through an open, regulated appointments process, which includes selection by an assessment panel containing an independent member. Whether or not the Select Committees are involved will be a matter for the sponsor. The reason I shook my head at the noble Lord, Lord Harper—I meant no discourtesy to him as I did so—was that I thought, and continue to think, that it is a shame that he did not pass by the opportunity to make a party-political point, when, for example, his noble friend, the noble Lord, Lord Deben, was assiduous in ensuring that he did not. I felt it did not help and was not constructive, but I did not mean it discourteously.

I turn to the first of the three groups in my speech, on legal considerations and, specifically, the compatibility of some proposed amendments with the European Convention on Human Rights. The articles in question are Article 14, on protection from discrimination, and Article 6, on the right to a fair trial. On Article 14, Amendment 913 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, would prevent the employment of a person as commissioner, or a member of their staff, should they have links with any agency promoting assisted deaths. The Government wish to highlight that the amendment as drafted is unbalanced, creating a risk of breach of Article 14 of the convention. This would be avoided if it also prevented the employment of individuals who campaigned against assisted dying. In addition, the amendment as drafted would prevent the employment of a person in the commissioner role, or a member of their staff, should they have links with any agency that provides assisted deaths. But, if assisted dying were to be provided through the NHS, that would prevent the commissioner employing staff with relevant NHS experience.

Amendment 496C in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Weir, would involve differential treatment as between how reconsiderations of panel decisions would be made in the cases of, on the one hand, identified groups of people in the amendment and, on the other, those not belonging to those groups. If that is the intention behind the amendment, consideration would need to be given to whether the approach is proportionate and justified to avoid a risk of breach of Article 14. But if the intention behind the amendment is to afford everyone a right to hearings with the commissioner, but for only remote hearings to be permissible in the circumstances specified, then drafting changes would be needed.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Earl Howe and Baroness Levitt

Committee stage
Friday 9th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, as sizeable as this group of amendments is, the key proposals embodied within it can be described in relatively brief terms. The Committee therefore owes its gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, for having given exactly that kind of helpful summary in his opening speech, which set our debate going on a good track. In thanking him for that, what has emerged most clearly to me in this debate is the far-reaching nature of the change to the architecture of the Bill represented by his proposals. In addition, were his proposals to be adopted in their totality, they would, as I read them, have the effect of simplifying very considerably the procedures required to bring about an assisted death.

In combination, those two consequences inevitably open up a range of questions, as we have heard, about how these proposals would work, not just in theory but most particularly in practice. We have, for example, heard questions about the capacity of the family court, about its funding and about the extent of the opportunity costs which the family court would need to sustain. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier gave us considerable reassurance on some of those issues, as did the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, himself. However, the questions that have been asked are of fundamental significance and I think the Committee should hear from the Minister how the Government view the practical effect of the proposals and their workability.

On the principle of the proposals of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, we have heard some powerful points in their favour: for example, the established powers vested in the court; the analogous decisions which courts already have to make; the ability of the court to arrive at a reasoned judgment and to be a court of record; the fact that the court-based appeal system is well understood; and indeed the level of public confidence which the court already enjoys.

I would venture to add another, which is that the role for the court envisaged by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, would be a substantive judicial role, in contrast to the role originally envisaged in the first iteration of the Bill. That came over to me, at least, as more of a tick-box exercise than an exercise of judicial judgment.

However, what I look forward to hearing from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, are his views on the strand of this debate brought out most ably by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, my noble friend Lady Berridge and my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier: how he has assessed the merits of the proposals of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, in comparison to the proposals set out in the Bill. He is on record, some years ago, as having favoured a court-based approach in this area of the law. If his view is that, on balance, he now favours the panel process, as set out in the Bill, what considerations have led him to that conclusion?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Levitt) (Lab)]

My Lords, I shall respond to the amendments in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile of Berriew, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Grey-Thompson and Lady Coffey. Some of your Lordships may be aware that I know the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, very well. Indeed, the convention of this House is that I refer to him as “my noble kinsman”. This has given rise to a number of jokes outside this Chamber, but there is a serious point to be made here. I reassure your Lordships that this has no effect on the Government’s neutral analysis of the workability of the amendments in question, and although I have the advantage of having advance notice of my noble kinsman’s position, I have engaged with him as to the Government’s response in no different a way from the way I would with any of your Lordships.

As this is the first time a Minister from the Ministry of Justice has spoken in this debate, I reiterate what has been said on many occasions by my noble friend Lady Merron: the Government’s position is that it is a matter for Parliament to decide the policy which underpins this Bill. It follows that I will not be providing a government view on the merits of any of the amendments, nor will I make any observations in a personal capacity.

I will, however, deal with the question asked by a number of your Lordships as to whether the Government would deliver this, were the will of Parliament to be that the general principle contained in the amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, were to be adopted. The answer is that, given our current workload, it would of course be challenging; I say this because I am in fact the Family Justice Minister, as well as the Lords Minister. But if it is the will of Parliament, then we will work with the judiciary to make sure that we have the resources in place to deliver what Parliament has decided.

This is a large group of amendments, and it is the Government’s view that—