Member

Generally, I support the proposals in Amendment 115. Amendment 116—which is not in this group but was proposed some time ago by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, when he was putting forward his judge-led process—is pretty comprehensive. I am also conscious of Amendment 113 tabled by my noble friend Lord Goodman. It is a reminder to the Committee and more broadly that the Lord Chancellor—the Secretary of State for Justice—and the Ministry of Justice have ownership of the 2005 Act when it comes to government. Understandably, it gets used every day by clinicians, but not only by clinicians. We should not rely solely on a doctor to decide, as we were discussing on the previous group, which conditions apply and what is considered terminal or still recoverable. We need to make sure that the lead department is in charge.