Clause 16
Coroners and Justice Bill
4:15 pm
Jennifer Willott (Cardiff Central, Liberal Democrat)
I have a couple of points to make about the removal of bodies. In some cases, the body might be in difficult circumstances—for example, on a railway line or protected land. Some coroners insist on using their own preferred undertaker to remove the bodies, whether or not the undertaker has been trained in, for example, health and safety procedures if they are dealing with a body on a railway line. That has been raised with me as a concern, because it can threaten the safety of the site where the body is located and of the people operating in that area. It can also lead to longer closures and unnecessary disruption to, for example, a railway line if the job is being done by someone who is untrained and does not know how to work in those particularly dangerous circumstances.
There is no obligation in the Bill or in any of the previous Acts for undertakers to have any training or authorisation. We have tabled an amendment to a provision later in the Bill that would require a code of practice on the powers to be given to coroners in relation to entry to and searching and seizure of land. It would also be helpful if the Minister considered addressing, whether in a code of practice or in guidance laid alongside the powers to remove the body, the training that is available or necessary for undertakers in these cases. The number of such cases is very limited, but they are specific examples. We are talking not just about railway lines, but about electricity substations, power stations, airports, motorways, major roads, zoo enclosures and so on—places where the circumstances raise health and safety issues.