Lord Joffe: My Lords, I enthusiastically support my noble friend’s Question to Her Majesty's Government and concur with everything that she said in her impressive opening speech. The issue of advance decisions is not a minor one and must be addressed. With an ageing population and much suffering towards the end of life, it is of critical importance because every one of us will die one day and we would...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, although I have introduced four previous Bills on assisted dying to this House, there is nothing I wish to add to the powerful and comprehensive speech of my noble and learned friend in favour of a change in the law. Rather, I will focus on the evidence underpinning the case for a change in the law and the lack of evidence—I underline the word “evidence”—underpinning the...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, it was a privilege to be a member of the Finance Bill sub-committee, which was so impeccably chaired by the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, and which, as he has already said, was so superbly organised by the clerk to the committee and his staff and advisers. I will limit my comments to that report and the committee’s proceedings. On the basis of the evidence received, I agreed and...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, the DPP guidelines on prosecution for assisted suicide are in general the most just and compassionate that the DPP could draft in the light of the current law. That is why the law needs to be changed to prevent suffering. In paragraph 11, the DPP draws attention to the issue of mental capacity, the law on which was carefully analysed by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss—the noble and...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I, too, join the welcome of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Sheffield, and I look forward to his contribution to the important issues that this House considers. The starting point for the debate must surely be the law on personal choice in England and Wales. The law has been considered in a large number of cases and was admirably summarised by...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, on Monday, 24 April 1964, Nelson Mandela, on trial for his life for planning a revolution to replace the apartheid Government, delivered his historic speech from the dock at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria. He ended with the words: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, because the Director of Public Prosecutions can only interpret but not change the law, the policy puts members of society at risk for two reasons. First, patients have to rely not on doctors but on individuals who have no experience to assist them to die, which will result in botched suicides. Secondly, safeguards are needed before the patient ends his or her life and not after it...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I was a member of the Royal Commission on Long-Term Care for the Elderly, which reported in 1999, and with my noble friend Lord Lipsey, co-authored the minority report of that commission in which we opposed the case made by the majority for free personal care for all, financed from taxation. The opposition came from us despite our high regard for the chairman of the commission, the...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, bearing in mind that pension funds and institutional funds are influential owners of most of the companies soon to be subject to Defra emissions guidelines, does the Minister agree that those guidelines should be extended to their investment portfolios, which has been done very successfully by a major pension company in Australia?
Lord Joffe: I support this humane amendment because it is about preventing suffering—not the suffering of the terminally ill patient who goes to be assisted to die; this new clause seeks to prevent the suffering of their loved ones. The loved ones go to Switzerland or wherever because they love the terminally ill person. It is against their instincts to help their father, wife or mother to die, but...
Lord Joffe: When I read the amendment of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd of Berwick, I immediately withdrew my own amendment, as this one, which I strongly support, is so much more elegant and skilfully drawn. The amendment extends well beyond mercy killing but, as I no longer regard myself as a lawyer, I will focus only on that aspect, which the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, has raised, as...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I should like to follow the Minister's cautionary advice that the Bill is not the place to introduce a debate on assisted dying. I understand and agree with that advice, but as the Bill includes clauses dealing with assisted dying and seeks to change the law on diminished responsibility to the detriment of mercy killers, I will touch on Clauses 42 and 49. I had intended to raise the...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I join other Peers in congratulating my noble friend Lord Gavron on introducing this topical debate and on his excellent speech in support of his Bill. It is clear from what has already been said that the remuneration packages of executive directors in the corporate world are astonishingly high. Deloitte's 2008 directors' remuneration report on the FTSE 250 companies shows that...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for introducing this important and timely debate with his customary passion and concern. There is no dearth of examples of poor governance and weak rule of law in Africa: from the south, where Zimbabwe as a state has all but collapsed, to the west where Guinea-Bissau has come to a standstill after the killing of President Vieira. Somalia is...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I join in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Marlesford, for introducing this debate. I have listened with respect to the vast experience and views of the noble Lords, Lord Hurd and Lord Wright, on the conflicting foreign policies of the Foreign Office and DfID. I am not competent to express a view on that. However, addressing poverty in the developing world is a key part of our foreign...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I will focus on a single issue which does not relate to the specific provisions of the Bill but falls among the issues that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, referred to as missing from the Bill. I refer to the position of Zimbabwean refugees, who are prohibited from working. Having arrived in this country in 1965 as a refugee with no passport, I have a special and deep empathy with the...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on introducing yet another important debate and the noble Lord, Lord Bates, on his maiden speech. I will restrict myself to the maternal health target, which is the most severely off-track of all the MDG targets and which has direct relevance to child mortality. It is clear that without radical progress the target of reducing maternal...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for clarifying the law and the consultation process, for his courtesy throughout the debate here and in Committee and for being prepared to engage on the issues. I shall need to discuss with my noble friend Lord Judd whether to bring this back at the next stage. In the mean time, I shall withdraw the amendment.
Lord Joffe: moved Amendment No. 47: After Clause 66, insert the following new Clause— "Policy on ethical investment (1) In carrying out its functions under section 66, the trustee corporation must secure that— (a) a written policy on responsible investment is prepared and maintained;(b) the policy on responsible investment is reviewed at such intervals, and on such occasions, as may be prescribed...
Lord Joffe: My Lords, I am moving the amendment in the absence of my noble friend Lord Judd, who has asked me to apologise for his unavoidable absence. I pay tribute to the Aegis Trust for its support for the amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to require the trustee corporation to prepare, publish and implement a responsible investment policy as part of its investment principles. A responsible...