This Supplementary Order Paper amends Supplementary Order Paper No 259 amending the End of Life Choice Bill by clarifying that no one is to be compelled to misreport or misrepresent the cause of a person’s death.

Compelling speech is particularly oppressive where the information required to be recorded is factually incorrect, as distinct from merely a matter of taste or preference.

Clause 25 appears to assume that, if this Bill becomes law, contracts for life insurance are going to be provided on the same basis as they are currently.

A related point is that it is unclear from the Bill whether insurers will be able to contract out of clause 25. It seems inevitable that insurance policies will take into account the possibility of insured persons ending their lives earlier than would otherwise have been the case.