Coroners: Cambridgeshire
(asked on 26th January 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the effect of the proposed merger of the South and West Cambridgeshire and North and East Cambridgeshire and Peterborough coroner areas on the time taken for completion of investigations and inquests.
The Ministry of Justice and the Chief Coroner are clear that the amalgamation of coroner areas, usually after Senior Coroner retirements, improves the consistency and standard of services and can deliver savings.
The Ministry of Justice is currently carrying out a consultation to assess the impact of the proposed amalgamation of the South and West Cambridgeshire, North and East Cambridgeshire and Peterborough coroner areas. All individuals and organisations identified as being potentially affected by the merger have been invited to respond. We will consider all responses after the consultation closes on Monday, 16 February.
The table below sets out the number of senior coroners (formerly “coroners”), Assistant Coroners (formerly “deputy or assistant deputy coroners”) and coroner’s officers in the South and West Cambridgeshire, North and East Cambridgeshire and Peterborough coroner areas and in the proposed amalgamated area.
| South and West Cambridgeshire | North and East Cambridgeshire | Peterborough | Proposed amalgamated area |
No. of Senior Coroners | 1 part-time | 1 part-time | 1 part-time | 1 full-time |
No. of Assistant Coroners | 3 | 3 (1 also covers South and West Cambridgeshire) | 2 | 5 |
Number of Coroner’s Officers | 5 (shared across the two Cambridgeshire areas) | 2 | 7 | |