Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of changes in the level of funding for coroners' offices on (a) the backlog of coroners' cases and (b) the incidence of the delayed release of the bodies of the deceased.

The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for coroner services. They are funded and run by local authorities which are independent of central government and are responsible for managing their budgets in line with local priorities.