Coroners (Hansard, 15 January 1998)

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will seek to simplify responsibility for the Coroner Service and assess the advantages of establishing a Coroner Agency for this purpose; and if he will make a statement. [23181]

§ Mr. George Howarth
The coroner service is a locally provided service. We have no plans to reduce local authority responsibilities or to create a new agency.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many(a) coroners, (b) deputy coroners and (c) assistant deputy coroners there are; and how many in each group are (i) full-time, (ii) part-time, (iii) women and (iv) from ethnic minority communities; [23103]
(2) how many coroners have (a) previous judicial experience and (b) medical experience. [23104]

§ Mr. George Howarth
According to the latest available information, there are some 146 coroners and a similar number of deputy coroners. Most coroners also have one assistant deputy coroner. Twenty-six coroners are full-time appointments; all the rest are part-time. Twenty-seven of all appointments are women. No information is held centrally on the number of appointments from within the ethnic minority communities.
Under the Coroners Act 1988, all coroners must have relevant legal or medical qualifications, but information on the extent of judicial or medical experience is not held centrally.

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his functions in relation to the Coroners Service; how many civil servants in his Department have specific responsibility for it; and what other functions those civil servants have responsibility for. [23002]

§ Mr. George Howarth
The Home Secretary's statutory functions include the approval of coroner appointments in London and the metropolitan areas, changes to coroner districts, the setting of certain fees and determination of applications to hold an inquest in the absence of a body. There is also power to collect statistics and to arbitrate on disputes between coroners regarding jurisdiction, or between coroners and their local authorities in respect of their remuneration and pensions. The Home Office is responsible for coroner legislation, deals with correspondence and inquiries from the public and supports study and training events.
The work is undertaken by seven officials who also have responsibilities for burial, cremation, exhumation and other matters.