Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take to encourage an increased uptake of coronial post-mortems by pathologists.

The Ministry of Justice recognises that the system for commissioning pathologists to undertake post-mortems for coroners needs to function effectively to help coroners determine causes of death and meet the needs of bereaved families. Ministry of Justice officials are working closely with other government departments and wider stakeholders in the pathology sector, to understand the issues for the coronial pathology workforce and those of the wider system.

The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a data-gathering exercise intended to better-understand the profile of this workforce. We will continue to work across Whitehall and with external stakeholders to ensure that there is a secure number of pathologists ready to undertake this vital work for coroners and ensure the needs of bereaved families are met.