Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill

Christina Rees Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 24th April 2024 Public Bill Committees

To return to the Bill, which I have to do, subsection (6) provides that clauses 2 and 3—on territorial extent and commencement, and the long title respectively— will come into force on Royal Assent. Subsections (7) and (8) of clause 2 provide that regulations made under subsection (4), relating to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, or an order made under subsection (5), relating to the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland, may contain transitional or saving provisions.

[Christina Rees (Neath) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on his commendable Bill and thank him for inviting me to be part of his Committee today. Please forgive me, for I should know this, but I cannot find it in the notes: which medical professional would be responsible for assessing the life expectancy term? Would that be confined to one or two medical professionals?

[Mr Robertson]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising that point. My understanding is that it is one medical professional. I cannot give her a specific answer, but I understand that it is the person who is in charge of that case for that particular person. I do not know exactly how senior they are. I understand that it is not subject to second opinions or anything like that.