1st Report - The Coroner Service

The government redirects the recommendation, stating that appraisal of judicial office holders is a matter for the judiciary, not ministers, and the Chief Coroner will respond directly to the Committee.

The government accepts the recommendation to amend the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to facilitate mergers of coronial areas, noting this is currently in progress as part of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill.

The government rejects the recommendation to immediately publish its 2015 review of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, stating the analysis is outdated and bringing it to a publishable standard would require disproportionate resources.

The government states that the Chief Coroner will respond to the Committee regarding his engagement with stakeholders concerning expediting cases to meet the needs of faith communities.

The government accepts the recommendation, committing to work with the Chief Coroner to ensure the Guide to the Coroner Service for Bereaved People is widely available online and, where justified, will provide hard copies while reviewing this policy annually.

The government rejects the recommendation to provide urgent funding for support services for bereaved people at inquests, citing the need for further detailed work on affordability and legal/commercial issues.

The government redirects the recommendation, stating that it will be for the Chief Coroner to provide a response.

The government disagrees that its current Guide to Coroner Services is inadequate but acknowledges it is considering what more could be provided to bereaved families, with a full response due in the Government’s response to Bishop James’ report.

The government states that the Chief Coroner will provide a detailed response to the recommendation regarding strengthening guidance and training on disclosure and pre-inquest reviews.

The government will consider the recommendation to amend Coroners' rules and extend the duty of candour to all public bodies in conjunction with its response to Bishop James Jones’ report in due course.

The government implicitly acknowledges the committee's conclusion that multi-handed inquests can become adversarial and details steps to address related issues such as providing non-means tested legal aid for Exceptional Case Funding.

The government commits to introducing legislation to remove the means test for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) in relation to legal representation at inquests and provide non-means tested legal help where ECF is granted, while deferring the wider issue of legal aid to its response to Bishop James’ report.

The government acknowledges the merit in considering an additional mechanism for appealing coroners' decisions, specifically referencing the original Section 40 of the 2009 Act, but it is not responding to the recommendation at this stage.

The government accepts the recommendation and will seek to introduce the proposed amendment to Section 13 into legislation when parliamentary time permits.

The government accepts the recommendation and plans to publish a joint response to the consultation on coronial investigation of stillbirths as soon as possible.

The government rejects the recommendation to immediately review and increase pathologists’ fees, arguing that fees are not the sole cause of shortages and there's no evidence that raising them would address the problem. It will, however, keep the issue under consideration and engage with relevant bodies to find a sustainable solution.

The government rejects the recommendation to immediately review and increase Coroner Service fees for pathologists, arguing it's not the sole reason for shortages, and an increase alone lacks evidence to solve the problem; it will keep the issue under consideration and engage to find a sustainable solution.

The government accepts the recommendation to work with the Department of Health and Social Care to plan pathologists’ work for coroners within NHS contracts, noting NHS England and Improvement's support for scheduling post-mortems into job plans to minimise impact on services.

The government states it cannot accept the recommendation at this stage but will engage with the NHS to consider the proposal for regional pathology centres, noting NHS England and Improvement's in-principle support for considering such developments.

The government rejects the recommendation to unite coroner services into a single national service, citing the massive change project involved, complex negotiations, and its belief that it would not necessarily be the best solution; instead, it will continue to support local authority mergers of coroner areas.

The government rejects the recommendation for a Coroner Service Inspectorate, arguing that a single national service would be a massive, complex change project and not necessarily the best solution, preferring to support local authority mergers of coroner areas.

The government rejects the recommendation for a review of coroner complaint mechanisms, stating that coroners are independent judicial office holders and the existing Judicial Conduct Investigations Office provides a robust and consistent process for complaints.

The government rejects the idea that a National Coroner Service is needed, stating it would be a massive change project and not necessarily the best solution, and instead will continue working with local authorities to identify opportunities for coroner area mergers.

The government will take forward legislation to remove the means test for applications for exceptional case funding (ECF) for legal representation at inquests and proposes non-means tested legal help where ECF has been granted. It does not commit to automatic entitlement for all mass fatalities.

The government acknowledges the need for more to be done regarding Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports and will consider options, including an Inspectorate of Coroner Services, but is not in a position to accept the recommendation at this stage.

The government acknowledges issues with searching for reports and notes the Chief Coroner's office is working on cataloguing; however, it is not in a position to accept the recommendation to provide funding for improved online accessibility and searchability at this stage, stating they will consider resources.

The government accepts the recommendation, detailing ongoing engagement with the Chief Coroner's office and committing to include four coroner-related measures in the Judicial Review and Courts Bill to support the Coroner Service's recovery from the pandemic.

The government notes the recommendation is for the Chief Coroner, who is already engaged with senior coroners to identify and address pandemic-related issues, and the Ministry of Justice will continue to support this work.