Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 28899 on Grenfell Tower Inquiry, what (a) criteria and (b) evidence her Department plans to use in prioritising its work on preventing future deaths; and with reference to the Justice Committee's (i) First Report of Session 2021–22 entitled The Coroner Service, HC 68 and (ii) Third Special Report of Session 2021–22 entitled The Coroner Service: Government Response to the Committee’s First Report, HC 675, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the coronial reforms recommended by that Committee.

The Government is clear that Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports are vital in contributing to public safety through learning from death investigation. We expect recipients to have a framework in place for considering any reports they receive, and to take their responses – and related actions - very seriously.

However, we recognise that more needs to be done to improve accessibility to information from PFD reports; and to ensure, particularly across government, that lessons are learned; that this learning is disseminated as quickly and widely as possible; and that it is effectively monitored and evaluated.

We are addressing this issue as part of the reformed, forward-looking framework for coroner services which we intend to deliver in light of the Justice Committee’s recent Inquiries into the Coroner Service, working closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners. The Government’s formal responses to the Committee were provided on 10 September 2021 and 10 December 2024 respectively.