Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of regulating privately owned natural burial grounds.

Guidance on the operation of natural burial grounds and cemeteries is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/natural-burial-ground-guidance-for-operators. The Government anticipates that those operating private burial grounds will adhere to the standards and principles underpinning the framework of regulation and guidance which applies to local authority burial grounds.

The Law Commission’s current Programme of Law Reform includes a project to consider modernising and streamlining the law governing the disposal of human remains, with a view to putting forward a legal framework for the future.