As I return from a relaxing post Christmas break I am preparing for what is bound to be a media storm tommorrow morning as the Report from the Commission is published 

 “The current legal status of assisted dying is inadequate and  incoherent…”

My own position will be made clear in the Report but here are some of the facts:

 

‘The Commission on Assisted Dying will today publish a [400] page report into the safeguards that would need to be in place for a safe assisted dying law to operate in England and Wales.

The expert panel Chaired by Lord Falconer QC includes members of the House of Lords and House of Commons, a former chair of the General Medical Council, a former Police Commissioner, a leading consultant in disability equality, an Anglican priest and medical, mental health, palliative care and social care specialists.

 Over the last twelve months the Commission has held extensive public evidence hearings and consultations, conducted international research visits and commissioned expert briefing papers to produce the most comprehensive study to date of how a change in the law on assisted dying might affect English and Welsh citizens.’

The Commission on Assisted Dying is made up of:

 

Lord Charles Falconer (Chair) Barrister and Senior Counsel based in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s London office. Former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in the Blair government.

 

Professor Sam Ahmedzai Professor of Palliative Medicine and head of the Academic Unit of Supportive Care at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Sheffield.

 

Lord Ian Blair of Boughton Cross Bench Peer and former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

 

Sir Graeme Catto Chairman of the Scottish Stem Cell Network, Chairman of the Better Regulation Group, Universities UK, and former President of the General Medical Council.

 

Dr Carole Dacombe Medical Director, St Peter’s Hospice.

 

Dr Stephen Duckworth Founder and former Chief Executive of Disability Matters Limited and board member of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

 

Penny Mordaunt MP Conservative Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North.

 

Baroness Elaine Murphy of Aldgate Crossbench life peer, Secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health and a vice-president of the Alzheimer’s Society.

 

Dame Denise Platt DBE Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

 

The Reverend Canon Dr James Woodward Anglican priest  and Canon of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

 

Baroness Barbara Young of Old Scone Life Peer in the House of Lords and Chancellor of Cranfield University.

I shall explain further as the news breaks in the coming hours.