Burial Provision in England and Wales

Debate between Baroness Levitt and Baroness Brown of Silvertown

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

Measures have been taken in recent years to update crematoria so that they better reflect and understand the needs of different cultures and faiths. To a certain extent, I must repeat my earlier Answer to the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed, that it is for local authorities to deal with this, because they decide what their priorities are, depending on the groups they represent locally. We are keen to engage closely with representatives from faith communities on all issues in relation to death management, particularly when we are considering our response to the Law Commission’s report.

[Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Lab)]

My Lords, one of the hardest things to do as an MP is meet with a bereaved parent. It is even worse if they tell you that they are worried about the funeral costs for their child. Can I take this opportunity to ask my noble friend the Minister whether all families under the children’s funeral fund will be exempt from fees charged for the cremation or burial of a child, and how this can be accessed?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government believe that families who have suffered the unimaginable loss of a child should not have to worry about the cost of a funeral. The children’s funeral fund is not means-tested; it is available where the death of a child takes place in England, regardless of nationality, faith or residency status. There are similar schemes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The cost is usually covered by the funeral provider and then the provider reclaims it from the fund. Families who wish to arrange the funeral themselves can access the fund and the details are on the GOV.UK website.

Court Reporting Data

Debate between Baroness Levitt and Baroness Brown of Silvertown

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

My Lords, first, I reassure your Lordships’ House that all journalists can access the information in exactly the same way as they could through Courtsdesk—it is just a slightly more complicated method: they have to go through HMCTS. The point about Courtsdesk was that it provided a slightly more convenient method, but there is no material that journalists could get then that they cannot get now.

Secondly, the agreement with Courtsdesk, which was a licensing agreement rather than a contract, was entered into by the previous Government as a pilot, which is why it applied to magistrates’ courts only. This Government decided that it might be better to make it available to more than one commercial company. We are in the process of looking at new licensing agreements, which lots of companies can bid for if they wish to, including Courtsdesk if it would like to do so. Anybody who can reassure us that they will treat our data with the respect and dignity that victims and defendants deserve will probably get that licence.

[Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Lab)]

My Lords, I know my noble friend the Minister will agree that it was utterly unacceptable for the company concerned to release personal information about vulnerable victims and witnesses without their permission or the permission of the department. As she knows, I am not a lawyer, but does she consider this to be a breach of the contract made with the previous Government by the company concerned?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. In fact, there was no contract; it was a licensing agreement. Our view is that there was a clear breach of the licensing agreement, and that is why we were concerned. The real issue is Courtsdesk’s lack of candour with us when this came to our attention. If there was no problem, why did Courtsdesk not ask us about it or even tell us that that was what it was doing?