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P2-64

Direct cremation in scope for standards

Fuller Inquiry · Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 Report · Issued 15 July 2025 · Addressed to: Department of Health and Social Care

Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Under consideration (Dec 2025)

DeliveryDepartment of Health and Social Care states no delivery position (Sep 2026)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

Direct cremation businesses should also be considered in this context, and mandatory standards to protect the security and dignity of the deceased should be applied to these businesses and to any emerging new models of delivery of care for the deceased.

Fuller Inquiry, Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 Report · 15 Jul 2025 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, announced in September 2026 that the government would "bring forward comprehensive proposals to ensure respect and dignity for the deceased in every setting" and address rogue funeral operators (Yvette Cooper, Sep 2026). In July 2026, Preet Kaur Gill, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety, stated that Ministers would update the House of Commons as soon as practicably possible on taking these recommendations forward (Preet Kaur Gill, Jul 2026). Previously, in a June 2026 dashboard update published by the Cabinet Office, the department recorded that the recommendation was under consideration (Department of Health and Social Care, Jun 2026).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.

Government response

●Department of Health and Social Care · Under consideration · 16 Dec 2025

Words of: Department of Health and Social Care, Interim update on government progress in responding to the Fuller inquiry phase 2 report, 16 December 2025

For the remaining 21 recommendations, these remain under consideration.

Extract from: Interim update on government progress in responding to the Fuller inquiry phase 2 report

Site note: This is the Department of Health and Social Care's interim update on government progress in responding to the phase 2 report, published on 16 December 2025. It sorts the 75 recommendations into those the government has accepted in full (11), accepted in principle (43) and is still considering (21), and gives words of its own only on the 11 accepted in full. Every word is the Department's, so the rows are filed under it, including where the passage reports what another body has done.

Site note: The recommendation is addressed to the Department itself. The update gives this sentence once, under its heading "Recommendations under consideration", and lists this recommendation there among the 21 it covers. It says nothing about this recommendation alone.

Delivery

●Department of Health and Social Care states no delivery position · 1 Sep 2026

Building on the progress already made in responding to the Fuller Inquiry (see HCWS26, 15 July 2026), and in the wake of the Robert Bush case, the Government will therefore bring forward comprehensive proposals to ensure respect and dignity for the deceased in every setting, to drive rogue operators out of the funeral industry, and to protect other families from suffering this same heartache.

From: Funeral Regulation, Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Site note: Written ministerial statement HCWS295, "Funeral Regulation", made on 1 September 2026. It names the inquiry and announces an intention to bring forward proposals; it neither accepts nor rejects any recommendation. The statement refers to "HCWS26, 15 July 2026", which is HCWS261; the reference is quoted as published.

Site note: The source does not name this recommendation by number. It is recorded here because it addresses the proposals the government says it will bring forward for the funeral sector. The source gives this passage once, for several recommendations. The same words are recorded on recommendations 62 to 66.

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Department of Health and Social Care · 31 Jul 2026

The findings from Sir Jonathan Michael's independent inquiry into the actions that allowed David Fuller to commit his horrific crimes showed that we need to consider how we can ensure better standards across all settings that look after our loved ones after they die, including where some level of regulation is already in place.

From: Government takes action to crack down on rogue funeral operators

Site note: A GOV.UK news story of 31 July 2026 by the Department of Health and Social Care, published on the day Robert Bush was sentenced. The passage is the department's own text: the story also quotes the Health and Social Care Secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the Justice Minister, Alex Davies-Jones, but neither of them says these words. It carries the same announcement as HCWS295 and, like it, neither accepts nor rejects any recommendation.

Site note: The source does not name this recommendation by number. It is recorded here because it addresses standards across the settings that care for people after they die, including those already regulated. The source gives this passage once, for several recommendations. The same words are recorded on recommendations 61 to 66.

●Department of Health and Social Care · 15 Jul 2026

We recognise the significance of these issues and will update the House as soon as practicably possible on how we intend to take these recommendations forward.

From: Government update on Progress in responding to the Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 report, Preet Kaur Gill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety

Site note: Written ministerial statement HCWS261, made on 15 July 2026 by the Department of Health and Social Care. It gives no per-recommendation breakdown, and it says the Government "remains committed to providing a full response to Sir Jonathan Michael's report once the leadership period for Prime Minister has concluded". That full response had not been published when these rows were recorded.

Site note: The source does not name this recommendation by number. It is recorded here because it addresses the wider regulation of sectors outside the NHS, including the funeral sector, which the same paragraph of the statement names. The source gives this passage once, for several recommendations. The same words are recorded on recommendations 61 to 66.

●Department of Health and Social Care · 16 Jun 2026

This recommendation is under consideration.

From: Fuller Inquiry Recommendations Dashboard

Site note: The source names this recommendation by number. The dashboard's own words are "This recommendation is under consideration." The site records that the entry states no delivery position; the department has not described the recommendation as "noted".

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.