Following her appointment as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health in September 2012, Soubry gave an interview with "The Times" in which she stated her support for assisted suicide for terminally ill people. Both the Department of Health and the Ministry of Justice denied there were plans for reform, though her Liberal Democrat colleague Norman Lamb welcomed discussion and said he expected a private members' bill to be introduced by Lord Falconer in 2013. Assisting suicide currently carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence.