Amendments 258, 129 and 132 form a small package of amendments that seek to strengthen section 22B. That section, which was introduced at stage 2, requires the creation of a code of practice for how assisted dying will interact with hospice and other palliative care services, and these technical amendments aim to ensure that the code of practice will have maximum effect in mitigating any potential negative impacts of assisted dying on existing providers of palliative and end-of-life care.

Amendment 258 would ensure that the code of practice was followed by all relevant public bodies, such as health boards, integration joint boards and Health Improvement Scotland. [Interruption.] I am sorry—I have just had a bit of a technical problem.

Amendment 129 would allow ministers to specify in regulations which public bodies must have due regard to the code of practice.

Amendment 132 would ensure that section 22B came into force after royal assent, to give effect to the aim, set out at the start of the section, that the code of practice should be prepared as soon as possible after the assessment report has been published.

Amendment 53 contains a technical correction of the cross-reference in section 22B(3).

As we all know, and as we have heard from previous speakers, hospice and palliative care services are already under significant and growing pressure. If assisted dying is legalised, we must protect those services and the essential palliative care that they provide to the thousands of people in Scotland who rely on them each year. This package of amendments would strengthen section 22B, and it would help to mitigate potential impacts and ensure that assisted dying was not introduced at the expense of existing vital hospice and palliative care services.

I will leave it there, Presiding Officer. I trust that colleagues will support amendments 258, 129, 132 and 53, in my name, on behalf of Hospice UK.