New Clause 5 - Coroner's courts
Courts Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The new clause is a fairly artificial construct, as I suspect Committee members will realise as soon as they read it. However, I hope that it will give the Minister the opportunity to share a little more of his thinking on coroner's courts.
The fundamental and comprehensive review of coroner's courts system and death certification was well carried out. It came up with a series of
recommendations, with which I largely agree. It was overdue; we should have looked at coroner's courts some time ago. Those who use those courts identify serious problems with the way in which they work. That is not to impugn the work of individual coroners. It is simply that the system has become a little archaic and outdated. Certainly, it has not had the investment that it needs to do its job properly. Some aspects of its procedure do not meet the requirements of modern society.
One of the firm conclusions of the review is that responsibility for the coroner's courts should be moved to what was the Lord Chancellor's Department and is now the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Will the Minister's Department immediately have responsibility for carrying forward the work of the consultation paper, or will that responsibility remain with the Home Office for the time being? Certainly, at some stage, the Department will be responsible for administering the coroner's courts system, together with the changes that emerge from the consultation. Part of that process is the consequences of the Bill and the unification of the court system. That was not properly considered in the review, because the Department was not then in place.
It is argued that there are clear advantages to ensuring that the coroner's court is as comprehensive as, we hope, the other courts that come under the scope of the Bill. There are clear advantages to shared facilities, premises and, to an extent, staff, although coroner's courts' work is a very different field of work. A joint administration would have certain economic and systemic advantages in ensuring a unity of approach and better communication between coroner's courts and the High Court, county courts and local courts.
All that I am asking the Minister to do is agree to consider the matter in the context of the review, although perhaps the review has not reached his desk yet. [Interruption.] He has a copy, but that does not necessarily mean that he has studied it with all the care and attention that one would expect from a Minister of the Crown. I am sure that that is on his to-do list. I am suggesting that there is at least the possibility of further unification, with benefits for all concerned. Will he please consider that? Perhaps he can give us at least some idea of whether anything is likely to emerge from the review in terms of the results of consultation and further proposals in concrete terms for dealing with the coroner's court? Any changes would be widely welcomed across the country when we have new, more effective and efficient arrangements.