Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2021 to Question 159014, what safeguards are in place to ensure that deceased persons are not incorrectly identified due to the use of body bags without transparent face windows.

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) is responsible for licensing post-mortem facilities and assesses whether licensed establishments adhere to the safeguards for the identification of the deceased set out in its statutory Codes of Practice.

HTA-licensed establishments are expected to use three identifiers attached directly to the deceased for purposes of traceability and identification, usually on a wristband and should also be securely attached to the outside of the body bag. These standards ensure that procedures to identify the deceased are robust, irrespective of the type of body covering that is used.