Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 25
1st Report - The Coroner Service
Published 27 May 2021
Paragraph 207
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee The Coroner Service All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The system for the Coroner Service to contribute to improvements in public safety is under-developed. The absence of follow up to coroners’ ‘prevention of future deaths reports’ is a missed opportunity. The Ministry of Justice should consider setting up an independent office to report on emerging issues raised by coroners and juries; and liaise with regulators, (for example the Health and Safety Executive, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the Care Quality Commission, Highways Authorities, and Air and Rail safety bodies) and others, to follow up on actions promised to coroners and to report publicly where insufficient action has been promised or implemented. As an alternative a new Coroner Service Inspectorate could be given this role.
From: Justice Committee, 1st Report - The Coroner Service (HC 68), paragraph 207, 27 May 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 10 September 2021 (deadline 27 July 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government accepts some of the Committee's recommendations, commits to further work on others, and does not accept others, including a single national coroner service.
- It accepts the recommendation to make it easier to merge coroner areas, which it says is "currently in progress" in the Judicial Review and Courts Bill.
- It does not accept the recommendation to create a single national coroner service, as it does not think this "would necessarily address the issues facing the coronial system or be the best solution".
- On legal aid for inquests, it will take forward legislation to remove the means test for Exceptional Case Funding applications for legal representation, and will consider wider legal aid in its response to Bishop James Jones' report.
- On a Coroner Service Inspectorate, it "could be merit" in the idea but "cannot accept the recommendation at this stage", citing affordability and other ministerial priorities.