Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department advises families to take who have had relatives buried in the wrong plot.

A family concerned that a relative has been buried in the wrong plot should immediately alert the relevant burial authority. A licence from the Ministry of Justice would be required to move the body to the correct grave.

The operation of local authority cemeteries is regulated by the Local Authorities Cemetery Order 1977. The then Department for Constitutional Affairs issued guidance to burial ground managers in 2005.

The Ministry of Justice is only aware of one instance since 2010 of a body being buried in the wrong plot in a Northampton Borough Council cemetery.