Speech in Lords Chamber - Thu 26 Mar 2026 AI Growth Lab
"My Lords, my experience as Health Minister in this space is that we have fantastic innovation and fantastic pilots: the joke in the NHS is that the NHS has more pilots than British Airways. But the challenge is always the scale-up funding and, because that scale-up funding is not there, …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"I thank noble Lords. I totally appreciate that the noble Baroness’s intention in all this is to try to make the process as robust as possible and she gave a very moving example of why she believes in it. But surely the people best placed to give evidence and understand …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
“The person’s health or social care professional cannot participate in any part of the assessment for a person’s request of an assisted death”.
That is the point I am trying to understand. Yes, unfortunately there are cases of misdiagnosis—the 5% that noble Baroness mentioned—but …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"I was trying to respond to the noble Baroness’s request not to be intervened on during her speech, but I have some questions on what she was talking about. I am now concerned that she will not have the opportunity to answer them...." Lord Markham - View Speech
"The noble Lord was at pains to say that he felt that assisted dying was somehow not a compassionate part of care, but will he accept that, for some people, it is the true definition of compassion? Noble Lords have heard me say on many occasions that, when my mother …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"If I may intervene again, let me say that this is a post which will happen only if the law has been passed by Parliament. I am not aware—but perhaps the noble Baroness can help me—if there is any other public appointment process which says that someone cannot be in …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"I let my noble friend finish but I just want to give a bit of my own experience as a former Health Minister. I think we would all agree that clinicians always look at what is the best outcome for their patients, regardless of cost. I want to put very …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"Is there not a critical difference, when we talk about conflicts of interest, in that, in this case, this will be law—something that has been passed by Parliament? I do not believe that, in any public appointment, being supportive of a law of the land is deemed to be a …..." Lord Markham - View Speech
"I am a bit confused. I think I heard from the noble Baroness a concern that savings of £13,000 a week would be generated if assisted dying happened. I then heard her say afterwards that there would be costs on other people. Obviously, she cannot have it each way. A …..." Lord Markham - View Speech