Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate his Department has made of the average cost of a funeral.

The Competition and Market Authority’s recently published funeral sector report noted that the average cost of funeral directors’ professional fees is £2,501, with burial disbursements (e.g. floral tributes, catering, minister of religion or celebrant fees and newspaper announcements) costing £2,268 and cremation disbursements (e.g. local authority fees and doctors fees) costing £1,170.