Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential need for his Department to provide additional funding to local authorities to help clear coroner inquest backlogs.

The Government has provided £6 billion in unringfenced grant funding to local authorities to support the costs of Covid-19 pressures, which can be used to help offset any extra costs incurred in the administration of coroner services, including coroner inquest backlogs, for example.