Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of sending coroner inquest notification letters to bereaved family members using signed for delivery.

While the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, it does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Moreover, coroners are independent judges and the way in which they manage their investigations and inquests is a matter for them.

Rule 9(1) of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 requires the coroner to notify the deceased person’s next of kin of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing. The method by which this notification is provided is a matter for the individual coroner service.