The assisted dying bill is about to undergo detailed scrutiny by the Public Bill Committee - a group of 23 MPs tasked with reviewing the Bill’s text and proposing amendments to refine and improve it. But what exactly happens during this amendment process? Former House of Commons Clerk, Paul Evans CBE, breaks it down. Plus, we hear from Dr Ben Spencer MP, a former consultant psychiatrist turned parliamentarian, who has proposed dozens of amendments to the Bill.
This week, Ruth is joined by procedural expert Paul Evans to break down the role and purpose of a Public Bill Committee. They explore how amendments are proposed, the rules that determine which amendments are admissible, and the grouping and selection of amendments for debate and decision. Paul explains the pivotal role played by the Committee chair in making fine procedural and political judgements and the mechanisms like ‘closure’ motions that keep the process moving and guard against filibustering.
What is the Government’s role in this process. While officially neutral, Ministers have a ‘duty to the statute book.’ So, will they step in to propose amendments, or will that responsibility fall to the Bill’s sponsor, Kim Leadbeater MP? Plus, we explore the tactical side of law making: is it smarter to push amendments now, or save them for the next stage when the Bill returns to the full Commons for the Report stage?
We also sit down with Dr Ben Spencer MP, the Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge. He voted against the Bill at Second Reading and discusses why he thinks the Private Members’ Bill process is not the right route for this complex legislation. Despite his opposition to the Bill, and although he’s not a member of the Public Bill Committee, he has nonetheless tabled several dozen amendments. One of his key proposals? The creation of a new body — the Assisted Dying Agency — to oversee the process. He shares why he’s pursuing these amendments, how he’s crafting them, and how he hopes to influence the Bill’s progress from outside the Committee room.
Dr Ben Spencer MP
Ben is the Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge in Surrey. He was first elected to Parliament in 2019. Following the 2024 General Election, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care. Since November 2024 he has been Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology. Prior to becoming an MP, he worked for 10 years as a doctor in the National Health Service, specialising in mental health. He has a master’s degree in mental health law and a doctorate in mental capacity.
Paul worked as a Clerk in the House of Commons for nearly forty years, retiring in 2019 as Clerk of Committees responsible for the House’s select committees. He was made a CBE in 2019 for services to Parliament. During his career in the House of Commons he held a number of posts including Clerk of the Journals and Principal Clerk of the Table Office. He is a member of the Hansard Society and is a former Chair of the Study of Parliament Group . He has published a number of works on Parliament including the Dods Handbook of House of Commons Procedure.
Paul Evans CBE
Hansard Society
Parliament
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Bill documents (see particularly the Amendments Paper tab)
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[00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production, supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk.
Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox. And at this point, if you're a regular listener, you'll know I'm usually joined by my partner in parliamentary podcasting, Mark D'Arcy, but today, Mark's indisposed, so I'm flying solo for the very first time.
I've promised him I'll do my very best not to ruin the pod's reputation. Each week, Mark and I unpack what's been happening in Westminster and explore ideas for making our democracy more effective. But it's been a relatively quiet week in both Houses of Parliament, so with Mark away, I'm focusing on just one key issue : the assisted dying bill.[00:01:00]
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, to give it its proper title, is about to undergo detailed scrutiny by the Public Bill Committee, a group of 23 MPs tasked with examining the Bill's text and proposing amendments to improve it. Although the committee hasn't been sitting this week, its members have been busy reviewing over 100 submissions from experts and the public, as well as reflecting on insights from last week's oral evidence sessions.
They've been using all this input to draft amendments which will be debated when the committee reconvenes next week. But how exactly does this mysterious amendment process work in a public bill committee? To demystify it, I'm going to be joined by our resident Parliament Matters procedural guru Paul Evans, a former senior clerk in the House of Commons and a long standing member of the Hansard Society.
And then later we'll hear from Ben Spencer, the Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, who before entering Parliament in 2019 was a [00:02:00] consultant psychiatrist with a PhD in decision making capacity. Under the current draft of the Assisted Dying Bill, he'd actually qualify as a medical expert assessor for any individual seeking an assisted death.
Although he's not one of the 23 MPs on the Public Bill Committee, that doesn't stop him tabling amendments, and so he has 36 of them at the last count. One of his key proposals is to establish a new body, the Assisted Dying Agency, to oversee the process. So I'll be talking to him about why he's championing these amendments, and how he plans to influence the bill's progress, even from outside the committee.
But first, I'm delighted to be joined on the podcast again by our procedural guru, Paul Evans, who's joining us down the line from Wales. Paul, welcome to the podcast again. Thanks for joining me. We wanted to talk to you about the process now for amendments. Now the bill is, uh, is going to be looked at by MPs next week, getting down to that, uh, what they call it, line by line scrutiny.
We'll see. But can we start [00:03:00] by unpacking what the process is? What is a public bill committee? What's its purpose?
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