Health, Social Care and Sport Committee 04 November 2025
Good morning, and welcome to the 29th meeting in 2025 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received apologies from Paul Sweeney, and Jackie Baillie joins us as a substitute.
Our first and only agenda item is consideration of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill at stage 2. As convener, I do not intend for us to go beyond the debate on amendment 226 today, which is the debate on the group on vulnerable adults.
I will briefly explain the procedure that we will be following during the proceedings for anyone who is watching the meeting. Members should have a copy of the bill, the marshalled list and the groupings. Those documents are available on the bill’s web page on the Scottish Parliament’s website. I will call each amendment individually in the order that is on the marshalled list. The member who lodged the amendment should either move it or say “not moved” when it is called. If the member does not move it, any other member present may do so. The groupings document sets out the amendments in the order in which they will be debated.
There will be one debate on each group of amendments. In each debate, I will call the member who lodged the first amendment in the group to move and speak to that amendment and to speak to all the other amendments in the group. I will call other members with amendments in the group to speak to, but not move, their amendments, and to speak to other amendments in the group if they wish. I will then call any other members who wish to speak in the debate. Members who wish to speak should indicate that by catching my or the clerk’s attention. I will then call the member in charge of the bill, if he has not already spoken in the debate.
Finally, I will call the member who moved the first amendment in the group to wind up and to either press the amendment or seek to withdraw it. If the amendment is pressed, I will put the question on it. If a member seeks to withdraw an amendment after it has been moved and debated, I will ask whether any member present objects. If there is an objection, I will immediately put the question on the amendment. Later amendments in the group will not be debated again. If they are moved, I will put the question on them straight away.
If there is a division, only committee members are entitled to vote. Voting is done by a show of hands. It is important that members keep their hands raised clearly until the clerk has recorded their names. If there is a tie, I must exercise a casting vote. The committee is also required to consider and decide on each section and schedule of the bill and the long title. I will put the question on each of those provisions at the appropriate point.
Section 1 agreed to.
Section 2—Terminal illness