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P2-71

New Chief Inspector regulatory regime for deceased

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 (Jun 2026)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The UK government should establish an independent statutory regulatory regime, headed by a Chief Inspector, for those who store and care for deceased people. The purpose of the regulatory regime should be to ensure that the security and dignity of deceased people are protected, in whichever institutions or locations they are cared for, examined or stored. The government should ensure that this role is adequately resourced to discharge its responsibilities and should provide it with powers to require information and enter premises and to take appropriate enforcement action (including against office holders in any organisation). Either the Human Tissue Authority should be required to work under the auspices of this new regime, or its remit should be formally expanded to comply with the statutory regime's requirements.

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

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In June 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care recorded in a government dashboard that this recommendation remained "under consideration" (Department of Health and Social Care, Jun 2026). It had previously confirmed in its December 2025 interim update that the recommendation was still under consideration (Department of Health and Social Care response, Dec 2025). Earlier, in October 2025, Dr Zubir Ahmed, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the department, stated in a written answer that the department would publish a final response by summer 2026 (Dr Zubir Ahmed, Oct 2025).

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

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 · 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".

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Department of Health and Social Care · 27 Oct 2025

This final report recommended the introduction of a statutory regulatory regime for those caring for the deceased. The Department will publish an interim update in winter 2025 and a final response by summer 2026.

From: Human Remains (written question 81668)

Site note: A written answer of 27 October 2025 (UIN 81668) to a question about the handling of human remains. It states what the Department planned to publish and when; it takes no position on the recommendation.

Site note: The source does not name this recommendation by number. It is recorded here because it addresses the statutory regulatory regime for those caring for the deceased that the final report recommended. The source gives this passage once, for several recommendations. The same words are recorded on recommendations 61 and 71.

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.