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Written Question
Coroners
Wednesday 17th April 2019

Asked by: Lord Popat (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that requests to expedite decision-making by coroners on religious grounds are implemented, following the judgment of the Administrative Court in R (Adath Yisroel Burial Society) v Senior Coroner for Inner North London (2018 EWHC 969 (Admin).

Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)

Coroners are independent judicial office holders and, as such, it would not be appropriate for Ministers to interfere in their decisions.

Following the judgment of the Administrative Court in R (Adath Yisroel Burial Society) v Senior Coroner for Inner North London (2018) EWHC 969 (Admin), the Chief Coroner issued guidance to coroners on handling urgent decisions, including those concerning faith issues. The Guidance is a practical guide to assist coroners in situations where:

  • a bereaved family has made a request to the coroner for urgent consideration of the death of a loved one and/or early release of the body; or
  • the coroner or coroner’s officers otherwise become aware of features of a particular death which may justify treating it as especially urgent.


The Guidance provides a summary of the guiding principles and is available at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/guidance-no-28-report-of-death-to-the-coroner-2010517.pdf