Clause 30
Coroners and Justice Bill
8:45 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
If I were to accept the hon. Lady’s amendment, it would prevent the Lord Chancellor from amending the list of coroner decisions that can be appealed under subsection (2), which would not be desirable. As this is an entirely new system, tailored especially for the coroner system in England and Wales, it is important to retain flexibility as the system beds down. It is likely, for example, that some of the processes contained in the Bill will be piloted before full implementation. We will be able to see from that how best to take things forward.
If I were to accept this amendment, it would be impossible to introduce new decisions that could be subject to appeals or to amend the list of appeals that are subject to appeal at the moment, even slightly, without recourse in both cases to primary legislation. If the Lord Chancellor were to make an order to change decisions that can be appealed, it would be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure and so would receive full parliamentary scrutiny. It would be both unnecessary and undesirable at this stage to remove that power from the Bill. We have already published a delegated powers memorandum alongside the Bill and will give careful consideration to any recommendations that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee puts forward in the other place. Until we have the benefit of that Committee’s report, I would prefer that the hon. Lady withdrew her amendment.