Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role the Chief Coroner has in relation to any antemortem indication given by a coroner in accordance with paragraph 21 of the Chief Coroner’s Guidance No. 26 Organ Donation, resulting in the non-retrieval for donation of a healthy organ for which there is no good medical reason.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Coroners are independent judicial officers and the way in which they conduct their investigations is entirely a matter for them.
Whilst the Chief Coroner provides leadership to all coroners and issues non-statutory guidance to promote consistency of practice, it would be inappropriate for him or the Government to comment on, or intervene in, the coroner’s decisions in an individual case.
As set out in the Chief Coroner’s Guidance No 26 on organ donation, the coroner’s jurisdiction only arises once death has taken place, so the coroner has no power to make a decision about organ donation until the donor has died. Once death has taken place, the coroner has legal control of the body of the deceased person until such time as the body is released for burial or cremation and, during that time, all decisions made by the coroner in relation to the body are judicial decisions.
However, for the coroner to wait until death has occurred before indicating their decision on organ donation would frustrate almost all donations because of the time needed to make the necessary preparations for organ retrieval. Therefore, where a death is likely, the coroner should be fully engaged with those treating the person and with the family, to ensure that any donation decisions can be made. As paragraph 21 of the Guidance sets out, once the coroner has been provided with the necessary information about an imminent death, they should give an indication as to whether they will object to organ donation. This can be taken as the coroner’s decision as at the moment of death unless, in the meantime, new, relevant information has come to light about the circumstances of the death, in which case the coroner should be contacted again. The reasons for which a coroner may object to organ donation are dependent on the circumstances of the individual case.
If a family has concerns about a decision made by the coroner, they may want to discuss this with the coroner or make a complaint to the local authority which funds the relevant coroner service. It may, in some circumstances, be possible to challenge a decision made by a coroner by making an application to the High Court for judicial review. Complaints about the personal conduct of a coroner can be made to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role the Chief Coroner has in relation to the conduct of coroners in respect of non-judicial matters.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Coroners are independent judicial officers and the way in which they conduct their investigations is entirely a matter for them.
Whilst the Chief Coroner provides leadership to all coroners and issues non-statutory guidance to promote consistency of practice, it would be inappropriate for him or the Government to comment on, or intervene in, the coroner’s decisions in an individual case.
As set out in the Chief Coroner’s Guidance No 26 on organ donation, the coroner’s jurisdiction only arises once death has taken place, so the coroner has no power to make a decision about organ donation until the donor has died. Once death has taken place, the coroner has legal control of the body of the deceased person until such time as the body is released for burial or cremation and, during that time, all decisions made by the coroner in relation to the body are judicial decisions.
However, for the coroner to wait until death has occurred before indicating their decision on organ donation would frustrate almost all donations because of the time needed to make the necessary preparations for organ retrieval. Therefore, where a death is likely, the coroner should be fully engaged with those treating the person and with the family, to ensure that any donation decisions can be made. As paragraph 21 of the Guidance sets out, once the coroner has been provided with the necessary information about an imminent death, they should give an indication as to whether they will object to organ donation. This can be taken as the coroner’s decision as at the moment of death unless, in the meantime, new, relevant information has come to light about the circumstances of the death, in which case the coroner should be contacted again. The reasons for which a coroner may object to organ donation are dependent on the circumstances of the individual case.
If a family has concerns about a decision made by the coroner, they may want to discuss this with the coroner or make a complaint to the local authority which funds the relevant coroner service. It may, in some circumstances, be possible to challenge a decision made by a coroner by making an application to the High Court for judicial review. Complaints about the personal conduct of a coroner can be made to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many transfers of trans women prisoners without Gender Recognition Certificates housed in the female estate to the male estate have taken place in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The number of transfers of transgender women, with or without a GRC, from the female estate to the male estate in the last 5 years has been as follows:
2018: 5 or fewer
2019: 5 or fewer
2020: 5 or fewer
2021: 5 or fewer
2022: 5 or fewer (to date)
(Please note: when disclosing data there is a disclosure control rule that if the number is below 6 it is stated as ‘5 or fewer’, which can include 0)
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many transfers of trans women prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates housed in the female estate to the male estate have taken place in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The number of transfers of transgender women, with or without a GRC, from the female estate to the male estate in the last 5 years has been as follows:
2018: 5 or fewer
2019: 5 or fewer
2020: 5 or fewer
2021: 5 or fewer
2022: 5 or fewer (to date)
(Please note: when disclosing data there is a disclosure control rule that if the number is below 6 it is stated as ‘5 or fewer’, which can include 0)
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) maximum, (2) minimum, and (3) median, length of stay for trans women prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates on E Wing at HMP Downview.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The number of separate transfers of transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates to E wing since 2019 has been as follows:
2019: 5 or fewer
2020: 5 or fewer
2021: 5 or fewer
2022: 5 or fewer (to date)
(Please note: when disclosing data there is a disclosure control rule that if the number is below 6 it is stated as ‘5 or fewer’, which can include 0)
The maximum length of stay on E wing was 35 months, the minimum length was one month, and the median length is 8.5 months.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many separate transfers of trans women prisoners with Gender Recognition Certificates to E Wing at HMP Downview have taken place each year since the unit re-opened in 2019.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The number of separate transfers of transgender women with Gender Recognition Certificates to E wing since 2019 has been as follows:
2019: 5 or fewer
2020: 5 or fewer
2021: 5 or fewer
2022: 5 or fewer (to date)
(Please note: when disclosing data there is a disclosure control rule that if the number is below 6 it is stated as ‘5 or fewer’, which can include 0)
The maximum length of stay on E wing was 35 months, the minimum length was one month, and the median length is 8.5 months.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include within the Bill of Rights Bill provision for women across the UK to have access to safe abortion.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The position on abortion is settled in UK law and it is rightfully decided by Parliament. It is an issue of conscience, and the Government has no current plans to introduce this issue into the Bill of Rights. We should be mindful of finding ourselves in the US position, where the issue is litigated through the courts, rather than settled as it is here by Parliament. Health Services across the UK are responsible for providing access to safe and legal abortion within the framework of the law.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take in response to the guidance by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on single sex spaces in relation to the prison and probation services, published on 4 April as part of the review of The Care and Management of Individuals who are Transgender policy.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service take the allocation of transgender prisoners very seriously. Prisoners are allocated to prisons initially according to their legal gender, which for the vast majority will be their sex recorded at birth. Decisions to locate differently, at any point during a sentence, are made on a case-by-case basis by a Complex Case Board - an expert multi-disciplinary panel chaired by a senior operational manager in HMPPS with specialist training.
According to our latest data collection, over 90% of transgender prisoners are held in a prison matching their legal gender.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission's new guidance will not affect our approach, which was recently judged by the High Court to be reasonable and proportionate, and therefore lawful.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce an automatic test for carbon monoxide poisoning in post-mortems in line with the automatic test for drugs and alcohol.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
Coroners are independent judicial office holders and the way they conduct their investigations, including any post-mortem examinations and related tests they commission is a matter for them. Coroners will, however, only ask for toxicology in appropriate cases – they do not ask for it in every death – and the Government has no plans to introduce legislation for automatic testing for carbon monoxide poisoning.