§ Mr. Pargiterasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation whether his attention has been drawn to the proceedings of the inquest into the victims of the Viking air crash at Southall; to what extent these matters are within the terms of reference of the promised public inquiry; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WatkinsonYes. There is bound to be an overlap between the matters inquired into by the coroner and those inquired into at the public inquiry, but the purposes of the two inquiries are quite different. That of the public inquiry is to ascertain the causes, including technical causes, of the accident with a view to the avoidance of similar accidents in future. That of the coroner's inquest is to ascertain how, when and where certain persons came by their deaths and whether their deaths were the consequence of any criminal act.