Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support the Government provides to families of people whose deaths are found to have been caused or partially caused by police actions; and where responsibility for funeral costs falls in such cases.

Every death that occurs following contact with the police is a tragedy for all concerned. That is why we commissioned Dame Elish Angiolini to consider what more could be done to reduce the number of such deaths and improve support.

Following the publication of the Angiolini Review into Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody in 2017 the Government has reflected on the process following the death involving contact with the police and are committed to ensure that all agencies involved are sympathetic to the needs of family and loved ones.

The Government has provided support and funding to charities and organisations who offer and signpost grieving friends and family members to tailored bereavement support. In Autumn 2021 the Ministry of Justice will publish a Means Test Review which will look at the thresholds and criteria for legal aid entitlement, including for families participating in inquests in relation to a death following police contact.