Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:00 pm on 10 June 2025.
Paul Sweeney
Labour
5:00,
10 June 2025
I thank the Minister for her support for my amendments. We are in no doubt about the impact that the amendments will have on disabled people, who can be assured that moving around will not have a detrimental impact on their care packages. That will provide greater opportunities for many disabled people in our communities across Scotland to move without fear.
Similarly, people who suffer from a terminal illness can have the comfort that their care needs will be evaluated more rapidly, so that we can avoid horrific situations in which someone faces death from a terminal illness in circumstances that they would not want to be in. There are too many such cases in Scotland. Once a person has passed away, their family will just be trying to get over their grief and will not necessarily be advocating improvements, so it is important for us, as parliamentarians, to rise to that challenge. I commend the relentless work of Scottish hospices in trying to improve the situation in Scotland.
I think that my amendments are very worthy improvements to the bill, and I press Amendment 68.
Amendment 68 agreed to.
Amendment 69 moved—[Paul Sweeney]—and agreed to.
Section 13—Independent advocacy
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
