Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many closed churchyards have been transferred from the Church of England to local authorities in Staffordshire since 2010.
Historically, the Church of England has made burial provision for local communities, and continues to do so. The transfer of responsibility for closed churchyards to local authorities returns the accountability for their maintenance to the community as a whole. Local authority spending priorities are a matter for local discretion.
Data on the transfer of responsibility for closed churchyards to local authorities is not held centrally.
The Law Commission’s current Programme of Law Reform includes a project to consider streamlining and modernising the law governing the disposal of human remains, with a view to putting forward a legal framework for the future.