Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, before we move on to the next business, I wish to update the House on the forward plan for the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. I have reflected on the first two days of Committee and discussed this with the usual channels and the Bill’s sponsor, my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer of Thoroton.
Noble Lords will be aware that over 1,000 amendments have been tabled and only three groups of amendments have been debated so far. It is therefore clear that the House needs additional time to scrutinise the Bill. I have always been clear that, as this Government are neutral on the Bill, any additional time will not come from government time. I also believe, given the importance of the subject and the number of colleagues who wish to participate, that this scrutiny could not take place in the Grand Committee, as some noble Lords have suggested to me. I have therefore arranged for the House to sit on eight additional Fridays in the new year, in addition to the three Fridays already announced. The Fridays will be listed in today’s Forthcoming Business.
As noble Lords are keen to be made aware of these dates, I can tell the House that those Fridays when the Bill will be considered will be: 9 January; 16 January, alongside some other PMB business; 23 January; 30 January; 6 February; 27 February, 13 March; 20 March; 27 March; and 24 April. The House will also sit on 6 March for the debate on International Women’s Day. A notice with the full list of sitting Fridays will be made available in the Printed Paper Office and the Royal Gallery. I will also email all dates to all noble Lords’ parliamentary email addresses.
As my right honourable friend the Prime Minister reiterated last week, the Government are neutral and how we proceed with this Bill is ultimately in the hands of this House. The Government are not seeking to prescribe how it will progress, but I am sure my noble and learned friend Lord Falconer of Thoroton will be discussing with other noble Lords how to make good use of this time.
I am conscious that colleagues may also be thinking about the time available on each sitting Friday. For the past two Fridays, I have come to the House at the start of proceedings, to set out how I hope the House will conduct itself and made clear that, in line with the Companion, I will seek to bring proceedings to a close at a convenient point around 3 pm. It is my intention to continue with this approach, but ultimately it is a decision for the House as whole, not me as Government Chief Whip.
I hope this is helpful and my door remains open to all noble Lords on this or any other matter.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)
My Lords, may I, as the sponsor of the Bill, express my profound gratitude to the usual channels for making what amounts to 10 additional days available for the Bill? That means that, up to 24 April, there will be 16 days for consideration of the Bill through all its stages. May I also specifically agree with the Chief Whip that the right course now for all of us who are interested in the Bill—opponents or supporters—is to get together and agree the best way to use the remaining 12 days that we have on it?