§ Mr. Bryan Daviesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is now in a position to state what steps he is taking towards the implementation in advance of legislation, of recommendations of the Committee on Death Certification and Coroners, the Brodrick Committee.
342W
§ Dr. SummerskillWith the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor and the Law Officers, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has decided to set up a working party under Home Office chairmanship to consider what amendments to the Coroners Rules will be necessary to implement those procedural reforms indicated in the Brodrick Committee's recommendations that can be achieved by subordinate legislation. The working party will include representatives of the Lord Chancellor's Office, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Bar Council, the Law Society, the Coroners Society, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and the British Medical Association, and invitations are being issued accordingly.
In the first instance the working party will be invited to consider the changes needed in the Coroners Rules 1953 (as amended) and the Coroners (Indictable Offences) Rules 1956 (as amended) when the duty of a coroner's jury to name any person they find guilty of causing a death, and the duty of a coroner to commit that person for trial, are abolished; and to make recommendations. We envisage that the working party would next be invited to consider what other changes might be implemented in advance of substantive legislation on the Brodrick Report; and that it might, finally, be asked to advise on changes required in the rules in the light of eventual substantive legislation.
This programme of work is likely to extend over a number of years, but the first stage should be completed fairly quickly.