Hansard

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

25 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Direct Support Payments

I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government’s package of support is the most generous package of direct support in the UK, but can the minister reassure me that the Scottish Government remains committed to providing direct payments to farmers in the future, given that the ...

5. Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

25 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Direct Support Payments

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has paid to the agricultural sector in direct support payments over the course of the current parliamentary session. (S6O-05697)

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

25 Mar 2026

First Minister’s Question Time

For the past five years, I have been working with clinicians and impacted families who have campaigned to get Scotland’s national health service to add spinal muscular atrophy to a range of conditions that newborn babies are screened for as part of the heel prick testing progr...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

17 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill

If the bill to legalise assisted dying is not passed today, many people who have led a dignified campaign in support of a change in the law will be deeply disappointed. Likewise, should the legislation become law, many others will feel just as much disappointment and, in parti...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will be brief. Proposed new paragraph (d) that would be inserted by amendment 296 talks about “additional funding” where there are “shortfalls” in palliative care provision. As a backbench MSP in the party of Government, I say that there are shortfalls in palliative care pro...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I have been listening intently to Mr Kerr, and I have read his amendments. Amendment 296 would ask the Scottish Government to identify“any shortfalls in funding, staffing, or other resources for these services”in relation to palliative care. It would also require a statement f...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I want to briefly make the point to Parliament and to Mr McArthur that I deliberately separated the issues in amendment 64 from those in my other amendments on data collection. I recognise the issues with the amendment, and I am minded not to move it. I say that just to inform...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank Jamie Hepburn for his intervention. He should not worry about intervening on me—it is not a problem.My first point in response to that is that the Government and public bodies have great experience in publishing only data that is statistically and appropriately anonymi...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

My amendments in this final group relate to the review of the operation of the bill, which will be essential if the bill is passed. It will be possible to review the bill’s operation effectively and meaningfully only if adequate data is gathered while it is in operation. There...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Alas, there were issues again. I would have abstained.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I have been advised that this should be the last time. I would have voted yes.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I still cannot connect. I would have voted yes.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My app is frozen. I would have abstained.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will not seek to debate or labour the point, but I am clear that palliative care is not assisted dying. The amendment would clarify that. Lots of palliative care practitioners want that to be clarified. I ask Liam McArthur to reflect on that and support the amendment.

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Much of the debate over the past few days has revolved around the identification and consideration of indirect pressures, which may affect the decision-making ability of a person seeking assistance to end their life. Debate on the skill set that clinicians currently have and t...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am glad that we have agreement on that point. I am conscious that Jackie Baillie’s amendments were sponsored by Hospice UK, which thinks that their provisions might square the circle, with public bodies having to take proper and due account of the code of practice. Given tha...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

13 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I appreciate the concerns of colleagues about this section. The bill says that the code of practice must make provision about“how existing and future statutory funding streams intended to support the delivery of palliative and end of life care services can be differentiated to...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will not take an intervention—it is the only time in the debate that I will not do so. I just wanted to put that point on the record.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am not sure that the concept of a referendum was actually Stuart McMillan’s idea, but I am sure that he will take the credit for it.No matter our views on assisted dying, we surely all believe that it is essential to include adequate mechanisms by which we can monitor the im...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am sympathetic to Mr Kerr’s amendment, but I want to give one note of caution. I hope that in the new session, the Parliament will come together, across party-political lines, to support significantly more investment in palliative care. It is essential that that is done in t...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will be brief. Daniel Johnson’s earlier intervention was quite important, but I do not think that Liam McArthur has addressed it. The medical practitioner, or general practitioner, has a critical role in establishing the trust in that relationship. However, they are not the ...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

The amendments are not perfect, but not passing an amendment that prohibits proactively raising assisted dying is also a flaw in the legislation. There we are: we pay our money, we make our choice.Raising assisted dying is not a neutral act, and I will vote for one of the amen...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am glad that Stephanie Callaghan had the opportunity to put that on the record, as informed choice is important.I note that there was a Survation poll that showed that 10 per cent of people thought that assisted dying meant that they would get hospice provision and 42 per ce...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will take Stephanie Callaghan’s intervention in one second. First, I make the point that I do not consider assisted dying a treatment option. When I heard earlier that it might be the duty of a clinician to outline all treatment options at the point of diagnosis, which would...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I cannot ever put myself into a patient’s shoes, but I can try to put myself in the shoes of my father. When he got his terminal cancer diagnosis, and he was informed that there was nothing that could be done for him, he said that he felt powerless and distraught. I should ha...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will finish this point first. It is about choice, but choice comes in many forms. Choice does not land equally on society or people. That is why we are having a long debate on indirect pressures, support networks, housing, social care packages, disabilities, capacity and eve...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I appreciate that Carol Mochan has put that on the record. I am conflicted. I know how I am going to vote at the end of stage 3, but that does not stop a person from being conflicted about the ethical matters that we are seeking to discuss.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Yes.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I appreciate that intervention, but I am merely putting on the record my conflict in relation to all of this. I do not know how we will pass the bill without much clearer guidance in those everyday reality situations. I was trying to relate that to Parliament, and Mr Whittle h...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I apologise to Stephanie Callaghan that I cannot take her intervention at this time. I hope that she will get an opportunity to put the point that she wishes to make on the record.I was making the point that raising assisted dying cannot be a neutral act. At least, if we want ...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I see that Stephanie Callaghan wishes to make an intervention.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am very sympathetic to the amendments in this group, particularly that of Daniel Johnson. Although his is a brief amendment, there is a lot more light and shade in it than in some of the others. This debate is indeed about light and shade.First, I do not believe that raising...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am sorry to prolong the debate. If a person requests advocacy and then decides not to proceed with an assisted death, but the advocate is empowering them in other ways—say, in relation to a palliative care pathway—will that advocacy stay in place for as long as that person n...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Based on a previous intervention, I will go back to amendment 199.My reading of amendment 199 is that, if a person goes to their doctor and says, “I am thinking about an assisted death—can you help me in any way in relation to that?”, the doctor would not be able to say, “Ther...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

12 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Will the member take an intervention?

Bob Doris SNP Committee

12 Mar 2026

Armed Forces Bill

Convener, before we move on, given that this may be the last time that the Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans will be in front of us—and considering the Herculean challenges that he has had during the past few weeks in trying to make Parliament deliver on all the...

Bob Doris SNP Committee

12 Mar 2026

Armed Forces Bill

That was really helpful. I should say that the veterans who spoke to me about the bus pass made the point that they could use it to meet up with colleagues who were now dispersed across Scotland and beyond and keep up those connections from their armed forces days. However, I ...

Bob Doris SNP Committee

12 Mar 2026

Armed Forces Bill

I find that encouraging. I just want to put on record—with brevity, I promise, convener—the fact that I have spoken in recent months to two veterans who have corresponded with the minister on this issue. It has been a long time since they served in the armed forces, but one of...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Committee

12 Mar 2026

Armed Forces Bill

Good morning, minister. I welcome what you have just said, but I have a couple of questions. I am happy for responses to be relatively brief and perhaps followed up in correspondence.First, I am pleased that a committee will scrutinise these matters on an on-going basis. That ...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I associate myself with Jamie Greene’s comments, which I absolutely agree with, but I note that amendment 44 would not put those details in the bill. It would be a regulation-making power. Amendment 70, which is a consequential amendment, would ensure that such regulation was ...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

As we all know, occasionally people do not die as expected from taking a lethal substance. I will not debate how often that happens; I am sure that it is very rare, but it does happen. Ingestion of medication is not a reliable route for some people, especially if they are alre...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

After Mr Balfour’s exchange with Ms Slater, I want to put on the record—I am sure that members will agree—that, irrespective of our views on the bill, we respect the professionalism of doctors, irrespective of whether they got off on the wrong foot with someone. Doctors are pr...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank Audrey Nicoll for her excellent contribution. I fully support her excellent and robust amendment 173, which was mentioned alongside my own amendment 37. Does she agree that it is vital that, should the bill pass, we collect all relevant data and detailed case-study inf...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am sympathetic to amendment 95 and I am listening with interest. Listening to the information that would have to be captured and written down persuades me that my amendment 37, on the establishment of a medical practitioner’s report, where all of that information would be ca...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Daniel Johnson referred to my amendment 37, on the medical practitioner’s report. He appeared to be supportive of it, but he was concerned that such provision could be overly burdensome or bureaucratic. I reassure him that amendment 67 would allow the Scottish Government to se...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

My amendments in this group are on three main areas: first, on palliative care; secondly, on the requirements that are set out in the medical practitioner’s report; and thirdly, on registered medical practitioners’ discretion.There are five amendments on palliative care: amend...

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · Modified E-bikes and Off-road Vehicles (Antisocial Behaviour)

I was at the meeting that the minister referred to, when we discussed what more could be done to tackle the issues that Michael Marra raised. Representatives of Police Scotland were also in attendance. Can the minister provide reassurance that there will be a cross-party appro...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · National Theatre of Scotland (20th Anniversary)

The parliamentary reception highlighted the NTS’s on-going significant contribution to the cultural life of Scotland and the important work that it does in Scotland’s schools.Will the cabinet secretary join me in wishing our national theatre every success in its 20th programme...

1. Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) SNP Chamber

11 Mar 2026

Portfolio Question Time · National Theatre of Scotland (20th Anniversary)

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting the National Theatre of Scotland as it marks its 20th anniversary. (S6O-05611)

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank the cabinet secretary for giving way. Would my amendments require the careful development of guidance? Absolutely—of course they should, and that is why amendment 27 should be agreed to. That is absolutely clear.As for amendment 27 leading to a lack of consistency in p...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Made a request to intervene.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I do not want to incur the wrath of Christine Grahame and must be nice to her because I have some amendments in this group. However, the matters that she has put on the record are not additional layers of protection; they are simply a repetition of something that recurs throug...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank Liam McArthur for commenting on my amendments. However, he lumped together my amendments 27, 160 and 33 with all the other amendments on coercion “by any other person”. I drew a distinction between them. Amendment 27 in particular, with amendments 160 and 33 supporting...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

We discussed that in great detail, in relation to indirect pressures, in the debate on my earlier amendments. That case has been made. Removing the words “by any other person” adds something to the bill. Nothing is lost, and it is beneficial. More importantly, the core of my a...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I was just finishing off, Mr Harvie.

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I think that the positions of both Finlay Carson and Rona Mackay can be encompassed if they support amendments 27, 160 and 33, which are the scaffolding to ensure that we put safeguards into the bill, as far as we can, in a proportionate way. If coercion does not exist, as Ron...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am certain that, when we make such a substantive change to legislation, we should build in safeguards, in case there might be coercion. I cannot imagine, in the world that we live in, that we should simply assume that there will not be coercion or indirect pressures, and the...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I should point out that indirect pressures, direct pressures, societal pressures and pressures from family members happen in all and any circumstances, but the proposal in front of us fundamentally changes the law, and it is right to build in these kinds of protections. I very...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank Ross Greer for that very helpful intervention, which gives absolute clarity to the policy intent here. I hope my other amendments in this group, which I am about to speak to, will reinforce some of that.Amendment 160 simply gives some examples of relevant indirect pres...

Bob Doris SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2026

Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I have many amendments in this group, but I want to focus on amendments 27, 160 and 33, because I do not wish to see those amendments lost in amongst the various other amendments in my name, which I will come to later.Amendment 27 seeks to require an assessing doctor to inquir...