CORONERS BILL

The purpose of the bill is to:

• deliver an improved service for bereaved people
• introduce both national leadership while ensuring that the service remains firmly grounded locally 
• ensure more effective investigations and inquests

The main benefits of the bill are:

• bereaved people will have a clear standing in coroners investigations and inquests, including new rights to appeal against coroners' decisions
• a new Chief Coroner will establish national standards across a range of coroner functions, and he or she will oversee a charter for the bereaved which sets out the services the bereaved will receive
• a move towards largely whole time coroner posts, with powers for Ministers to determine the size and boundaries of coroner areas to ensure effective operation and coordination with other statutory services
• the removal of archaic boundary restrictions which prevents the service operating in a modern and flexible way, and which prevents investigations from being transferred from one coroner to another in an efficient way
• new powers for coroners to obtain information they need to conduct more effective investigations, ensuring that bereaved people get the answers to the questions they need about the death of their loved one. 

The main elements of the bill are:

• Provisions about the purpose of coroners' investigations and inquests
• Provisions about the conduct of coroners' investigations and inquests
• New arrangements for drawing up of coroner areas, and for appointment of coroners
• Provisions about the duties of a new Chief Coroner and other national governance arrangements
• Provisions centralising the function of coroners' responsibilities to assess whether or not discovered items are classified as "treasure" (ie of historical interest)

The Bill would apply to:

• England and Wales only. (apart from amendments to the Treasure Act 1996, which will extend to Northern Ireland) Check with NIO

Related Documents:

• Draft Bill - June 2006
• Government response to Select Committee Report - November 2006 
• Government response to wider consultation - February 2007 

Existing Legislation in this area is:

• This Bill would repeal the 1988 Coroners Act.
• The Bill would amend the Treasure Act 1996.

Comments:

If you have any comments on the draft programme or individual bill being proposed, you can email them to:

legislation@commonsleader.x.gsi.gov.uk