Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Chief Coroner has taken to ensure that coronial decision-making is consistent throughout the UK.

The Chief Coroner provides judicial leadership to coroners on a range of statutory and non-statutory matters. In doing so, he publishes guidance and advice to promote consistency of practice and service across England and Wales which is available at https://www.judiciary.uk/related-offices-and-bodies/office-chief-coroner/guidance-law-sheets/coroners-guidance/. This guidance, including the Bench Book for coroners, is in the process of being reviewed.

The Chief Coroner also provides training to all coroners and coroners' officers via the Judicial College, further promoting consistency and ensuring that coroners follow the most recent standards of practice. These are also supported by the Chief Coroner’s monitoring duties. In particular, he registers cases lasting more than 12 months, as required by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, allowing him to keep any delays under review.

In addition, the Chief Coroner has a statutory duty to provide an annual report to the Lord Chancellor which, among other matters, must include an assessment for the year of the consistency of standards between coroner areas.