Funerals: Death Certificate Delays

Lord Kamall Excerpts

Thursday 3rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I do not have the figures to hand, but I would be very pleased to write to the noble Lord. As I said, this is a complex area. The reforms were introduced in September, and it is very difficult to make before and after comparisons. Since 2001, a long-term trend has shown an increase in the median time between death and registration, and that cannot be attributed to death certification reforms. In addition, the reforms are about the introduction of statutory medical examiners as opposed to the non-statutory arrangements that existed before—and there was even more regional variation before September than we are finding now. I assure your Lordships’ House that I am working very closely with officials to understand the reasons for this so that we can take more action.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, for the conversation we had about this Question. As we all know, when a loved one passes away, it is a distressing time, and surely delays can only add to that distress. I am sure that noble Lords understand why these reforms were brought about in the first place: they were introduced after a qualified doctor, Harold Shipman, murdered his patients and signed the death certificates himself. In a recent Written Answer on these delays, the Minister for Public Health in the other place said:

“The expectation on doctors and medical examiners is clear … they should complete certification as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Government is working with all stakeholders to make sure this is the case”.


Can the Minister explain to your Lordships what that means? Is the department simply asking them to complete the certificates, or is it identifying blockages or misunderstandings in the system to help unblock them in order to speed up the process?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Lord’s observations are correct. As I said, it is so important to be timely and sensitive at a time of bereavement. Governments and Ministers have been working to bring in the system over the last 50 years—in fact, it has been overdue for reform for that long, so I am very glad to have taken this action. Introducing this robust system means working with medical examiners as well as the bereaved, so that we hear from them about what has happened. We also work very closely across government, including with the MoJ and the Home Office. As the noble Lord will know, the medical examiner system is led by NHS England through the office of the National Medical Examiner. I reiterate that delays are not due solely to this introduction; it is very important to unpick this issue. We now have better data and get weekly reports, which is helping greatly.