Lord McColl of Dulwich
Main Page: Lord McColl of Dulwich (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord McColl of Dulwich's debates with the Scotland Office
(7 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Keen of Elie
My Lords, the matter of CPS policy must be left to the CPS to determine independently of Parliament. It is not for government to dictate what that policy, which is regularly reviewed, should be. For example, in the period from 2009 to 2016 the very large majority of cases referred to the CPS were not proceeded with in the context of prosecution.
Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that we have to be very chary of these surveys that support the subject in hand? For instance, one survey stated that 96% of the British people wished for a pain-free death. Does that not leave us wondering what the other 4% wanted?
Lord Keen of Elie
My Lords, it may be that the other 4% were not referring to themselves. Nevertheless, it is of course important that any such surveys should be carried out rigorously and by reference to defined terms, otherwise their results can be misleading.