Baroness Falkner of Margravine (CB)

My Lords, I have a point related to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Harper, about impact assessments. Noble Lords will be aware that I am a former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. I gave evidence on this Bill when it was being examined in the other place. Once it was introduced in your Lordships’ House, I recused myself from the EHRC’s involvement on the Bill, as I anticipated participating on the basis of being a Member of this House. That is the background, should anyone detect any conflict of interest on my part. A senior EHRC commissioner, Alasdair Henderson, who is a barrister, has since represented the EHRC on this Bill. On 22 January, nearly 60 Members, including me, wrote to the Minister calling on the Government to update their equality impact assessment. This was to pick up the argument from the EHRC—which was put nearly three months ago, so the Government have had a substantial amount of time to think about it—that the current EIA contains several gaps and focuses primarily on access to an assisted death rather than on safeguarding risks and the potential for coercion. That letter has been circulated to the whole House. Yesterday, I received a reply from the Minister declining the request. Parliament will receive an updated impact assessment and equality impact assessment only “should the Bill receive Royal Assent”, and “once detailed implementation work has been completed”. In other words, the Committee is being told that it must legislate blind.