Chamber and committees

Thank you, Mr Gulhane. I take it that by “some staff” you are referring to medical staff?

I am mindful of the time, so I ask members and panel members to be concise with their questions and answers, please.

I see no objection to the committee writing to ministers and asking for relevant clarification on some of those issues. Are you content with that?

Thank you.

At our next meeting, on Tuesday 19 November, we will continue taking oral evidence as part of the committee’s stage 1 scrutiny of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. That concludes the public part of our meeting.

The next item on our agenda is evidence from two panels on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. We begin our scrutiny by taking evidence from stakeholders who focus on the legal, human rights and equalities considerations that are related to the bill.

I welcome to the committee Dr Mary Neal, reader in law at the University of Strathclyde; Eleanor Deeming, legal officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission; and Lynda Towers, a public policy committee member at the Law Society of Scotland. We are expecting Dr Murray Earle, lecturer in medical law at the University of Edinburgh. I note that Dr Neal has made a request not to be filmed as part of this morning’s proceedings and that the committee has agreed to her request.

We move straight to questions from Emma Harper.

I need to bring Sandesh Gulhane in now, but I will bring you back in if we have time later, Mr Whittle.

Thank you very much. I propose that the committee does not make any recommendations in relation to this negative instrument. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.

I call David Torrance.

I thank the witnesses for their attendance and their assistance in the committee’s scrutiny of the bill. Their evidence has been very helpful.

I briefly suspend the meeting to allow for a change of witnesses.

We continue our scrutiny of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill with our second panel of witnesses, who will focus on mental health considerations related to the bill.

I welcome Professor Colin McKay, professor, centre for mental health practice, policy and law research, Edinburgh Napier University; and Dr Stephen Potts, consultant in liaison psychiatry, NHS Lothian, who is representing the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland. The committee has received apologies from Dr Arun Chopra, medical director of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland, who would have been the third witness on this panel.

We move straight to questions, and I call Paul Sweeney.