Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the additional cost of requiring the Human Tissue Authority to regulate the care of corpses throughout the death pathway including in funeral homes.

The Department has not made an assessment of the additional cost of requiring the Human Tissue Authority to regulate the care of the deceased throughout the death pathway, including in funeral homes.

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 16 December 2025, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuller-inquiry-government-interim-update-on-phase-2-recommendations

We will provide a full response by summer 2026.