Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)

I think we will have to disagree on that. It is the normal way for that to be dealt with in drafting, so I am content with it. I am sorry to disagree with the noble Lord, but that is my view. Amendments 135 and 436 from the noble Lord, Lord Frost, would place a duty on the assisted dying commissioner to check that all the paperwork is in order. Again, I have thought very carefully about that. The role of the commissioner, as far as the panel is concerned, is to pass the two reports on to the panel once he has received them from the doctor, for the panel then to consider whether that case is in order and meets the criteria—is the panel satisfied that there is no coercion and is it satisfied on capacity? I think it is neither appropriate nor necessary to add yet a further safeguard in that respect, because that is why the panel is there. It would lead to overlap and unnecessary delay without, in practice, any additional safeguard. The noble Lord, Lord Evans of Rainow, supported that. For the same reasons, I would reject his amendment. The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, made a point about conflicts of interest. There would obviously be a conflict of interest if the assisted dying commissioner had a financial or commercial interest in any sort of provider of assisted dying services. That would be covered by the principles to which the noble Baroness, Lady Levitt, referred in relation to the way in which the appointment would go. I completely agree with the point by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, but I do not think there is a need to put anything into the Bill in relation to it. A number of noble Lords have referred to the risk of mission creep—the idea that an enthusiast or proponent of assisted dying would operate in an inappropriately biased way. All that the assisted dying commissioner can do is act in accordance with the terms of the Bill. As the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, said, if for example the commissioner stuffed a panel with people he knew would take a biased view, he would be acting both improperly and illegally under the terms of the Bill. As the noble Lord said—and I agree with this—Schedule 1 opens the door to every sort of judicial review if that were the position and people became concerned about it. That goes to the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, which would provide for complaints to be made to the Prime Minister. Of course you could make complaints to the Prime Minister, but you certainly would not need the Bill to make that possible; there would be political accountability for the conduct of the commissioner, because the Prime Minister has made the appointment. Equally, there would be legal accountability in the form to which the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, referred.