A PROFESSIONALISED SERVICE
102. Coroners appointed under the Coroners Act 1988,
most of whom are part-time, will cease to hold office once the
draft Bill comes into force and the Lord Chancellor will have
power to make regulations to provide compensation for loss of
office (Clause 71). The Government has stated that "It is
intended that transitional arrangements will be made to ensure
the system continues to function until the arrangements under
the Bill take full effect."[113]
It is possible that the expertise of existing coroners may be
lost if they perceive that there is no financial benefit in applying
for a full-time coroner post and giving up their, potentially
more lucrative, professional commitments.[114]
Whilst there may be no shortage of potential applicants, many
of them are likely to have no previous experience of coronial
law.
103. Moreover, we have received evidence that neither
existing coroners nor their officers and staff "can be regarded
as having any continuing job security at all", following
redefinition of the jurisdictional boundaries. Coroners' officers
may be forced to reapply for their jobs without guarantee of success
if their employment is moved from police authorities to local
authorities as a result of negotiations in progress. Similarly,
clerical staff currently working in solicitors' offices have no
guarantee of employment within the new service. Mr Ian G McCreath
MBE, HM Coroner for North Northumberland, has stated that:
There must be major concern that many, who carry
out an extremely valuable service to the bereaved at present,
will seek to leave the Coronial service between now and April
2009 if opportunities for more secure employment elsewhere arise.[115]
It is vital to ensure that changes
to the jurisdictional boundaries of the coronial system and to
the staff involved in administering it do not inadvertently result
in valuable skills and experience being lost.
104. Once the new jurisdictional boundaries are drawn
up, there are potential problems in large rural jurisdictions.
For example, under the proposed system, Cumbria and Northumberland,
with a combined population of fewer than 500,000 taken together,
can be expected to form one coroner area, which is an enormous
geographical area for one person to cover.
105. On 6 February 2006, the Minister stated in Parliament
that:
There is no reason why coroners should not travel
to the families. We will ensure that Her Majesty's Court Service
buildings, county courts and magistrates courts are available
for the coroners to exercise their jurisdiction locally, so that
they can work around the families and circumstances, rather than
expect the families to work around them or their private practice
as solicitors.[116]
106. Coroners have expressed alarm at the notion
that they may be expected to travel around their jurisdictions,
particularly those which cover very large geographical areas.
Victor Round made two important points in evidence:
The first is that the coroner is then sitting on
a car seat instead of sitting on an inquest, and the second is
that all those courts we used to travel out to have been shut.
It is like cottage hospitals. It is the same situation. It may
be a good thing but it does not provide us with anywhere to go.
So 65 coroners, 41 jurisdictions, is really the death knell of
any kind of local service.[117]
107. When this was put to the Minister, she appeared
to change her mind. On the subject of coroners travelling, she
said:
Coroners will have to make the decision about where
they sit and whether or not they choose to ask people to come
to them or they decide that they are going to go to people. That
is one of the things that they will be in a position to decide.
That is the best way to do it. We are not telling them where they
have to hold their inquests. If they are going around in their
car to go to a local place, to hold an inquest in a particular
local village, that is a matter for them to decide. If they feel
that it should be done locally rather than asking people to come
to them, they will no doubt have good reasons for that and for
therefore being in a car in order to get there.[118]
108. We then asked about the availability of accommodation
in which travelling coroners might hold inquests. The Minister
replied that she was satisfied that there would be sufficient
accommodation available, adding that Clause 33 of the draft Bill
makes provision for ordering that accommodation be made available.[119]
This is certainly true, although it is far from clear on the
face of the draft Bill that the local authority could be obliged
to provide more than one location in a given jurisdiction in which
a coroner may hold inquests.
109. In widely scattered areas, it will be necessary
to make use of part-time Assistant Coroners and to have means
of access to the coroner's service which do not depend on visiting
a coroner's office which is at a great distance or inaccessible
by public transport.
110. The Government
needs to clarify how their proposed system is intended to function
in scattered and remote areas. If it is the Government's intention
that local authorities responsible for large jurisdictions should
provide a coroner with more than one place in which to hold inquests,
we recommend that this should be made apparent on the face of
the Bill when it is published.
RESOURCES
111. The DCA has highlighted the possibility of economies
of scale under the new regime, but admits that:
The reform of the coroner service will have some
effect on public expenditure. Local authorities will retain responsibility
for funding their local coroner but, in line with Government policy,
the Department for Constitutional Affairs is committed to funding
any net additional costs that fall on local government which arise
from changes made by the reforms. The best current estimate is
that the initial start up costs for the reformed service will
be £14.5 million, with additional running costs in the region
of £5 million per annum. [120]
112. The Minister has confirmed that a large proportion
of the funds estimated by the DCA will be dedicated to the office
of the Chief Coroner, the Coronial Advisory Council, training
for coroners and their staff and additional medical support for
coroners.[121] The
Minister stated that the additional annual running costs would
break down as follows: [122]
