Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 10 February 2026.
Caroline Dinenage
Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Chair, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the (a) adequacy of regulation and (b) level of trade body membership of funeral service providers contracted by local authorities for provision of services that fall outside of a local authority's obligations under Section 46 of the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984.
Alex Davies-Jones
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
The Government recognises the urgency of concerns about the funeral sector and is committed to responding at pace to ensure that the highest standards are always upheld by funeral directors and others involved in the care of people that have died.
To that end, the Government is considering the full range of options to strengthen and improve standards to safeguard the security and dignity of the deceased. In this context, an interim update on progress with our response to the Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 report was published by the Department for Health and Social Care on 16 December 2025 (Fuller inquiry: government interim update on phase 2 recommendations - GOV.UK), and we will provide a full response by summer 2026.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
