Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department has taken to help ensure that coroners are (a) making consistent use of their power to issue Prevention of Future Death reports and (b) improving the use of such reports o help prevent future deaths.

It is important that the inquest process is as swift and efficient as possible to avoid additional distress for bereaved families at such a difficult time in their lives. Whilst the Ministry of Justice is responsible for coroner law and policy, the Department does not have operational responsibility for coroner services as they are a local service, funded and administered by individual local authorities. Coroners themselves are independent judicial office holders, led by the Chief Coroner.

However, we are keen to understand the factors underlying the length of time for the completion of inquests, and to provide support, where possible and appropriate. To that end, we have introduced a raft of statutory measures to help streamline coroner processes and intend to take forward further measures when Parliamentary time allows. In addition, on 9 September 2024, the Government implemented the statutory Medical Examiner scheme which, by providing a more robust framework for the scrutiny of cause of death, is intended to decrease the number of deaths which are unnecessarily referred to the coroner, thereby helping to reduce pressure on coroner services and associated services such as pathology.

We will continue to work with the Chief Coroner to consider and address any issues of consistency which may exist across coroner areas. We will also continue to support the merger of coroner areas where opportunities arise, to better provide consistent service standards for bereaved families.

We welcome the findings of the Justice Committee’s 2023 follow-up inquiry into the coroner service, including in relation to support for the bereaved in the inquest process. We are carefully considering the Committee’s findings to establish a wider strategy for the development of coroner services including on issues such as coronial pathology and learning from death. We look forward to working closely with the Chief Coroner, local authorities and other key partners inside and outside of Government to devise and deliver this framework for the future, including working on an update to the Guide to Coroner Services for Bereaved People.