Hansard

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Thank you for taking the point of order and forgive me for not giving you early sight of it.

Yesterday evening, we debated in the chamber a motion to consider the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill tomorrow, in an additional meeting of Parliament. I put on the record that, for many of us, tomorrow is absolutely a working day.

For the purposes of such decisions, I want to share briefly with the chamber some of the considerations that had to be made in order that I could make a change at such notice. In the 12 hours—or a bit longer—since Parliament met, two personal assistants, a family member and my husband have had to change all their working arrangements for tomorrow in order for me to attend Parliament. I understand and appreciate the ability to attend Parliament in hybrid form, which is an important step that Parliament has taken to encourage participation. However, given the nature of the debate, members will understand why I wanted to be here in person.

I am not sharing this information so that people feel sorry for me or for the people in my life who have had to make sacrifices and changes at such short notice. I share it merely because I want people to understand that such decisions impact not just members but our families, too. I speak of experiences that every one of us will have and of the impacts that this job has on our lives.

I put on record my thanks to the family members, my husband and the personal assistants who have changed their working patterns in the past 12 hours in order to accommodate my participation in an important debate and to ensure that Parliament can do its business. I also put on record a request that, when the Parliamentary Bureau considers such situations in the future, the impact on individual members and their families be deeply considered so that we can all participate in proceedings in the chamber on an equal basis.