Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time was for the completion of a coroner's report after a death in England and Wales in (a) 2018 (b) 2019 and (c) 2020.

The Ministry of Justice publishes annual coroner statistics that include the average time taken to process an inquest. The timeframe of each inquest is defined between the date the death was reported, until the conclusions of that inquest.

In 2018 the average time taken to process an inquest was 26 weeks; in 2019, the average was 27 weeks. Information for 2020 is not yet available but will be included in the annual coroner statistics scheduled to be published on Gov.uk on 13 May.