Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 06 November 2025
06 Nov 2025 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Dying in Poverty at the End of Life in Scotland 2025
On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. I apologise to my colleagues for making a point of order, but I inadvertently misled the Parliament during my contribution, when I mentioned the £2.3 billion that Marie Curie estimated was spent on the last years of people’s lives, the vast majority of which was in the acute health service. I said that half a billion pounds was spent on social security payments. It is not half a billion pounds—if it was thus, that would be fantastic—it is half a million pounds. It is important to put that on the record. I apologise for cutting in to the flow of the debate, which so far has been superb.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-18624, in the name of Paul Sweeney, on dying in poverty at the end of life in Scotland...
Paul Sweeney (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I thank everybody in the chamber who supported my members’ business motion. During the week that saw the start of stage 2 proceedings on the Deputy Presiding...
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am very grateful to Paul Sweeney for his incredibly powerful speech. Does it not speak to the disparity between what we believe to be the social contract a...
Paul Sweeney
Lab
I thank my friend for his intervention. I could not agree more. Despite all the immense work that hospices and our national health service do, too many peopl...
Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)
SNP
I thank Paul Sweeney for bringing this issue to the chamber. It is important that we discuss the preliminary findings of the “Dying in Poverty in Scotland 20...
Paul Sweeney
Lab
I thank Mr Doris for referencing the “Dying in the Margins” study. It is really important, because the dead cannot advocate. The power of that study and exhi...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
I can give you the time back, Mr Doris.
Bob Doris
SNP
I am pleased that Mr Sweeney put that on the record. I agree. The most powerful thing about the preliminary report is that it suggests solutions and provide...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
I am pleased to speak in this evening’s debate, and I thank Paul Sweeney for bringing this important issue to the chamber. As someone who previously served a...
Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Paul Sweeney for lodging the motion and so, for the second year running, leading this debate in Parliament. It has become a significant annual debate...
Elena Whitham (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (SNP)
SNP
I thank Paul Sweeney for securing the debate, which is on a topic that is hugely important to us all. As Richard Leonard pointed out, many of us in the chamb...
Carol Mochan (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Paul Sweeney for again securing a debate on this important subject. I have spoken in previous years’ debates on the issue, and it saddens me that, on...
Paul Sweeney
Lab
Carol Mochan makes a powerful point. In the exhibition “The Cost of Dying”, there was an older woman who was dying and who had been so house-proud that she w...
Carol Mochan
Lab
I was fortunate to see that exhibition in Glasgow and then in the Scottish Parliament. It brought home what is the reality for so many people who wish to sta...
Bob Doris
SNP
On a point of order, Deputy Presiding Officer. I apologise to my colleagues for making a point of order, but I inadvertently misled the Parliament during my ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
Thank you, Mr Doris. That is not a point of order, but it is now on the record. 17:32
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Ind)
Ind
Like others, I thank Paul Sweeney for securing the debate. Just over two years ago, my father died of a terminal illness. It was a really hard time for my m...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
I invite the minister, Tom Arthur, to respond to the debate. 17:37
The Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing (Tom Arthur)
SNP
I thank Paul Sweeney for bringing this important debate to Parliament and join others in placing on record my appreciation and gratitude to Marie Curie for i...