Lord Markham (Con)

Yes, absolutely. That is what these debates are all about: trying to find an approach that makes assisted dying tight and safe, safeguarding all sorts of vulnerable groups, but also navigable. I know that is what the sponsors of the Bill are trying to do and what the noble Lords are trying to do in this amendment. I commend the amendment for that reason. I do not think they are trying to be prescriptive. They are trying to start a conversation with the Bill’s sponsors that will go on between now and Report, which is an entirely constructive way to do it. On how the service is best provided, I was on the Select Committee and it is one for the NHS to commission in the best way. Commissioning can use the NHS or voluntary services, and I think we would all agree that, in the hospice sector, voluntary services provide very well. It is wrong at this stage for us to try to be prescriptive in terms of a one-size-fits-all NHS provision. The main thing on these amendments is trying to get a constructive approach, which I am sure the Bill’s sponsors will pick up, to how we make this as simple as possible to use for those who are in the most distressing period of their lives, when they have less than six months to live and they want to die in a method of their choice and in the most comfortable way possible.