§ Mr. Tinnasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now in a position to announce the Government's decisions on the Report of the Brodrick Committee on Death Certification and Coroners.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe Government accept in principle the Committee's recommendations that there should be a new system for the medical certification of the cause of death in England and Wales; that the appropriate authority to whom certain deaths should be reported should be the coroner; and that the law governing coroners' districts and procedures needs modernising.
We are not disposed to accept the recommendations that the coroners' service should become a central Government service with coroners appointed by the Lord Chancellor; that appointment should be restricted to persons with legal qualifications; or that pathology services for coroners and for the police should be part of the National Health Service.
We accept the recommendation that the existing cremation forms and certificates and the office of medical referee should be abolished when the new system for the medical certification of the cause of death is introduced. But we consider that a safeguard should be retained by requiring a confirmatory certificate before cremation in the case of deaths other than in hospital to be given by a doctor drawn from a panel appointed by the cremation authority, with the approval of the Home Secretary. We recognise, however, that these decisions leave a number of detailed issues. We propose to open discussions with the various bodies concerned and to consider what procedural reforms might be achieved, in advance of legislation, through the use of existing statutory powers.