Clause 12
Coroners and Justice Bill
Public Bill Committees, 24 February 2009, 12:45 pm
Henry Bellingham (Shadow Minister, Justice; North West Norfolk, Conservative)
Obviously, if clause 11 had been struck from the Bill, clause 12 would not have been necessary. Will the Minister explain when it might be appropriate under the clause for the chief coroner to conduct the investigation in person?
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
The chief coroner would have to do that only very rarely. After consultation with the chief coroner, the Lord Chief Justice would terminate the nomination of the person previously appointed; someone else would then have to be appointed to carry out the investigation instead. The chief coroner could get a senior coroner from the relevant area or someone from a different geographical area to conduct the investigation, or he could do the investigation himself or ask the Lord Chief Justice to appoint a senior judge to conduct the investigation, but I suggest that it would be a very rare occurrence.