Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance he has issued to coroners on how to preserve the information that a person who has died had suspected covid-19 in the absence of a positive test; and if he will make a statement.

Under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, coroners may require evidence (including written statements, documents or anything in a person’s possession) relevant to their investigation into a person’s death is made available to them. A record of their investigation using this evidence on cause of death is made and retained by the Senior Coroner. The Chief Coroner recently published guidance for coroners covering the Covid-19 pandemic which is available on the Judiciary.gov website. Where a death is certified by a registered medical practitioner as being of natural causes and no inquest takes place, the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death is retained by the Registrar of Births and Deaths and on a quarterly basis sent to the General Register Office for retention which may include a medical practitioner’s certification that the cause of death was likely Covid-19related.