Member

I turn to Amendments 85, 894 and 896, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. Amendments 85 and 896 would require the Secretary of State to specify a complete list of illnesses or diseases that fall within scope of what is “terminally ill” in regulations. As drafted, these amendments are likely to be unworkable, as it is often a combination of illnesses interacting, as opposed to a single one, that leads to a terminal diagnosis. This means that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to list accurately all possible combinations of conditions that would lead to a prognosis of less than six months. This amendment leaves it to the Secretary of State to decide what counts as a terminal illness or disease, and the basis on which they are to do so is ambiguous.