Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Debate between Lord Harper and Baroness Levitt

Committee stage
Friday 9th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[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—

[Lord Harper (Con)]

On that point, briefly, the Minister made the point about making available the resources to deliver what would be in the Bill. The question I asked her, which the Whip on the Front Bench confirmed she would answer, is: would that have an impact on other users of the court system, or would the Government make available extra resources to deliver what is in the Bill, but without disadvantaging other users of the court system? He did say she would answer.

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

He did not intend to say that he would go further than I have just gone. That is confirmed. I would be surprised if he had intended to go further than I intended to go.

With respect to the noble Lord, we are not here to debate what is going on in the family justice system. We are here to debate these amendments, and I am going to stick to that. I am also anxious not to take too many interventions because this is a large group, and there are things the Government want to say about workability. I need to get through them in the time allotted to me.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

I am sure the Committee entirely endorses what the noble Baroness said in relation to the importance of those who are hearing impaired. I think that, in these circumstances, this is not a matter for the Government; it is a matter for the proposer of the amendment and for the sponsor of the Bill should it be passed. However, the point remains an important one.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

Before the Minister concludes, she has obviously inadvertently omitted to answer the important question that both my noble friend Lord Gove and I asked. This is a resources question and the Whip, of course, confirmed that she would answer it. The Bill, as introduced, had a court system in it. It was reported that the sponsor of the Bill was advised by the Government and the judiciary that it was not possible to deliver that for capacity reasons. Did the Government provide that advice, and if they did, will the Minister publish it?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

I am going to repeat the words that were used by my honourable friend the Minister for Courts in the other place. The decision as to the introduction of the panel was made by the sponsor.