Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to ensure that the bodies of deceased people from minority religious communities whose faith practices require burial within a specific timeframe are released promptly to their families.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Since 9 September 2024, all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS medical examiners. NHS England has published the National Medical Examiner’s guidance which stipulates that arrangements at each medical examiner office should reflect local health priorities and the needs of communities, particularly if there is regular demand for urgent release of bodies at weekends and public holidays. Urgent release may be required to facilitate organ and tissue donation, or to fulfil religious practices and other needs of local communities.
The Royal College of Pathologists provides mandatory face-to-face training for medical examiners, which includes contributions from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Gardens of Peace in which they explain the importance of rapid scrutiny to facilitate burial as soon as possible. The e-learning modules for medical examiners also include faith considerations.
For deaths which are investigated by the coroner, the Chief Coroner has issued a suite of Guidance to assist coroners with the law and their legal duties, and to provide advice on policy and practice. The Chief Coroner’s Guidance No.28 on Decision Making and Expedited Decisions is intended to be 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 their body; or where the coroner or coroner’s officers otherwise become aware of features of a particular death which may justify treating it as especially urgent.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure bodies of deceased individuals are released promptly to families from minority religious communities.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Since 9 September 2024, all deaths in any health setting that are not investigated by a coroner will be reviewed by NHS medical examiners. NHS England has published the National Medical Examiner’s guidance which stipulates that arrangements at each medical examiner office should reflect local health priorities and the needs of communities, particularly if there is regular demand for urgent release of bodies at weekends and public holidays. Urgent release may be required to facilitate organ and tissue donation, or to fulfil religious practices and other needs of local communities.
The Royal College of Pathologists provides mandatory face-to-face training for medical examiners, which includes contributions from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Gardens of Peace in which they explain the importance of rapid scrutiny to facilitate burial as soon as possible. The e-learning modules for medical examiners also include faith considerations.
For deaths which are investigated by the coroner, the Chief Coroner has issued a suite of Guidance to assist coroners with the law and their legal duties, and to provide advice on policy and practice. The Chief Coroner’s Guidance No.28 on Decision Making and Expedited Decisions is intended to be 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 their body; or where the coroner or coroner’s officers otherwise become aware of features of a particular death which may justify treating it as especially urgent.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to (a) ensure that current prison expansion plans are sufficient to meet projected demand and (b) prevent potential overcrowding in prisons serving Leicester and the surrounding areas.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Our 10-year Prison Capacity strategy published on 11 December sets out plans to deliver 14,000 prison places the previous Government promised but failed to deliver. It also sets out our plans to maintain the places in our estate to ensure we have sufficient accommodation and explore the acquisition of land should we need to build more prison places. This will include a new 1,700-place prison in Leicestershire (next to HMP Gartree), in addition to HMP Fosse Way in Leicester which opened in 2023.
We have also launched an Independent Sentencing Review, chaired by former Lord Chancellor, David Gauke. The Review’s aim is to ensure we are never again left in a position that this Government was, where we have more prisoners than places available.