Baroness Merron (Lab)

That is the normal way of doing things. I hope that too is helpful. Amendment 27, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, would require a terminally ill person to have “made independent contact with their local voluntary assisted death service for information” in order to be eligible to request assistance under the Bill. However, the fact is that a local voluntary assisted death service is not defined, and the concept does not feature anywhere else in the Bill. Furthermore, no mechanism is provided for assessing whether this eligibility requirement has been met. That would render the Bill unworkable as drafted, and would require further amendments to ensure its workability. Amendment 28, also tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, would add two eligibility requirements for a person seeking an assisted death under the Bill: first, that the person was eligible for benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions via the Special Rules for end of life, the SERL process; and, secondly, that the person had received a home visit from their GP in the six months preceding their request for an assisted death. Not all terminally ill people opt to apply for, or are eligible for, certain benefits at the end of their life. Those people who do not claim would therefore become ineligible under the provision as drafted. The Bill and the SERL system also have different definitions for end of life. The Bill defines “terminally ill” as six months to live while the SERL process uses 12 months. That would be operationally confusing. Equally, not all terminally ill people will necessarily have had a recent home visit by a GP. That again poses operational challenges for GP resources. Amendment 28 refers to SR1, the medical evidence form that clinicians issue to evidence that a person is at the end of their life. It is unusual for forms of this nature to be put into primary legislation, and the form by itself does not establish eligibility for benefits. Furthermore, referring to the form in primary legislation could result in delivery challenges should the DWP amend that form at any point in future. Amendment 38, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, would introduce several qualifications to the eligibility criteria in Clause 1. This amendment could cause operational challenges for assessing doctors and panels. As drafted, the amendments contain undefined and unclear terminology and it is not evident how these new criteria should be assessed. Noble Lords may also note the risk that the amendments could give rise to challenge on ECHR grounds as they would lead to a difference in treatment for those who have a history of mental health conditions, suicidal ideation or self-harm. Any differential treatment would need to be objectively and reasonably justified to comply with ECHR obligations.