Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Paragraph: 58
The Ministry of Justice’s Guide to Coroner Services is good first step but more needs...
Conclusion
The Ministry of Justice’s Guide to Coroner Services is good first step but more needs to be done to make sure that bereaved people know of its existence. We encourage all Senior Coroners to make sure that the updated Guide to the Coroner Service for Bereaved People is freely available both online and, where requested, in hard copy by post and is offered to people who have been bereaved as soon as it has been decided that a post-mortem is needed.
Paragraph Reference:
58
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We accept this recommendation and we will work with the Chief Coroner to make sure that the Guide is available as widely as possible. The Ministry of Justice informed all coroner’s offices when we published the Guide in January 2020 and issued each office with 250 hard copies. However, it explained that as the Guide was available to view online, via mobile phones and tablets, and had been designed with navigable sections, it did not see any reason to continue to supply hard copies. It used to provide hard copies of the previous Guide but that was not easy to view online. The Ministry of Justice also made available a ‘print-friendly’ version should a coroner office wish to arrange its own printing. It is our understanding that coroner’s offices do provide the Guide to bereaved families at the start of the investigation. Practice varies across the country; some offices send the Guide by link to an electronic copy for both environmental reasons and to save postage; others prefer to send hard copies. We do accept that there will be some compelling cases for the Ministry of Justice to issue hard copies of the Guide for each area, on their request, for example, to place in waiting areas in coroner’s courts or to provide to those who do not have ready access to the internet. For these reasons, the Ministry of Justice will provide hard copies of the Guide in particular cases where there is a sound reason for doing so. It will, however, review this policy on an annual basis to assess the level of demand.