Clause 3
11:30 am
Jennifer Willott (Cardiff Central, Liberal Democrat)
Clause 3 gives chief coroners the power to co-ordinate work in different coronial areas. I would like to highlight the fact that, although this is a welcome provision—as was clause 2—it is only needed because the Government have dropped the proposal to have a centrally co-ordinated national coronial service. I would be grateful if the Minister were to respond to a number of concerns about that element.
This clause allows for a sharing of burdens and workload across coronial areas, if there is an issue with workload, backlog and so on. There have clearly been significant problems in the past in certain areas—in some areas, there is still a significant problem. I asked a parliamentary question in December 2006—I do not have more up-to-date figures—when some outstanding cases had been awaiting an inquest for more than five years, and some had been waiting for 10 years. That causes severe stress and distress for the victims’ families.
Although the provisions in this clause would make a difference, I am disappointed that the Government have not decided to go ahead with a single, national coroners service. A properly co-ordinated service would enable fair sharing of the burden of work, so backlogs would arise less frequently. It would also be able to tackle the significant issue of funding for coroners’ areas—we heard evidence on that in the sittings that we held last week. It is clear that funding and the provision of resources other than funding—space, offices and services for witnesses attending an inquest—are patchy across the country. We heard evidence from the coroner from Liverpool, who clearly has palatial suites and is very happy with his lot in life. However, I have visited the Cardiff coroner’s offices in the court in my constituency, which is, I would say, probably closer to the other end of the scale, given that it is located in a city centre and has a significant workload.
The coroner in Cardiff is a paired operation between the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff county council. Most deaths occur in Cardiff, and the Vale of Glamorgan is reluctant to provide a lot of resources from which its residents will not benefit. The provision in Cardiff is in the central police station. The way in which you are greeted and how welcome you are made to feel depends on the desk sergeant. There are no toilet facilities for the jurors, no proper waiting area for the witnesses, very cramped offices for the coroners and so on. The provision would tackle some of the backlog issues, but it will do nothing to tackle that, because the power for the chief coroner to do so is not provided in this clause.
Regarding the backlog that clause 3 would tackle, serious issues are built into the system by the funding being provided on a local basis by local authorities. For example, the coroner in Cardiff is employed on a part-time basis, despite the fact that she actually works full time off her own bat—she is only paid to work part time. That is the only way that she has been able to manage the backlog. Clearly, the provisions in clause 3 would tackle that in some way, but I would be grateful if the Minister were to answer why the Government decided not to implement a fully national coroners service. Some of the fundamental problems that are built into the current system are not being tackled by this Bill and will therefore continue.