Schedule 1
Coroners and Justice Bill
12:45 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
Even under the current system, it is clear that article 2 places considerable responsibilities and demands on coroners, who are very aware that they must resume an inquest if the criminal proceedings have not established details of the broad circumstances surrounding the death. The most obvious example of such a case would be where a defendant pleads guilty early on in proceedings, which would establish only the outline, rather than the broader circumstances surrounding the death. In such a case, a coroner would be obliged to resume the inquest. The amendment making the resumption compulsory does not take into account the fact that, under section 6 of the Human Rights Act, it would be unlawful of the coroner, as a public authority, to act in any way incompatible with someone’s convention rights. Under section 6, the coroner is already under an obligation to resume the investigation in the way that the hon. Lady desires, so I think that her amendment is unnecessary.