Evidence submitted by The Local Government
Association (LGA)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Local Government Association (LGA)
speaks for nearly 500 local authorities in England and Wales that
spend some £78 billion pounds per annum and represent over
50 million people. The LGA exists to promote better local government.
We work with and for our member authorities to realise a shared
vision of local government that enables local people to shape
a distinctive and better future for their locality and its communities.
We aim to put local councils at the heart of the drive to improve
public services and to work with government to ensure that the
policy, legislative and financial context in which they operate,
supports that objective. This submission only looks at the reform
of the coroners system.
THE CURRENT
SYSTEM
2. Coroners in England and Wales are independent
judicial officials who investigate deaths reported to them and
find out the cause of the death to allow it to be registered.
Although coroners are appointed and funded by consortia of local
authorities across 129 coronial districts, the coroner is not
a local government officer but holds office under the Crown. Coroners
can only be dismissed by the Lord Chancellor and have no retirement
age.
3. District coroners are appointed by the
`relevant council', ie county or borough council or consortia
of councils, in accordance with the Coroners Act 1988. The
relevant council gives notice of the vacancy to the Secretary
of State, makes the appointment and gives notice of the appointment
to the Secretary of State. Appointments in certain districts are
subject to approval by the Home Secretary.
4. The relevant council is responsible for
payment of the coroner's expenses and remuneration. A coroner
is paid an annual salary at such a rate `as may be fixed between
the coroner and that council'. The Joint Negotiating Committee
for Coroners (JNCC) publishes suggested salary scales for whole
and part-time coroners. Whole-time salary levels are set in accordance
with the population band of the district and range from £68,409
to £83,529; part-time salaries are set according to the annual
referral caseload and start at £8,343.
5. Arrangements to pay an allowance to whole
or part-time coroners to cover office expenses, including administrative
assistance, are settled locally between the relevant authority
and the coroner. The cost of coroner's administrative staff can
be met through the office expenses claimed by the coroner or by
the council employing the administrative staff directly.
6. There are also statutory fees, payable
by the relevant council, determined by the Secretary of State,
for:
post mortem examinations—£87.70;
professional witness allowance at inquest eg up to
2 hours—£83.50
juror and witness expenses (subsistence, travel etc).
7. In addition, the relevant council is
responsible for the additional expenses incurred by coroners in
the course of their duties; usually this includes the removal
of the deceased, mortuary services, specialist examinations and
tests, medical reports, courtroom facilities etc.
8. Councils express considerable frustration
at the difficulty in controlling the ever increasing costs of
inquests. This is because the majority of costs are the result
of decisions taken by the coroner, on the basis of professional
judgement, and therefore outside council control. These include
increased costs of tests, such as toxicology, and increased use
of those tests; more elaborate inquests due to Human Rights Act
1998; additional administrative and investigative support required
by coroners. We would expect any reform proposals to address the
significant costs pressures in the current system.
9. The cost of Coroner's Officers is usually
met by police authorities, although there are locally agreed combinations
of funding and employment involving local authorities. Coroner's
officers receive referrals of deaths and sometimes make the initial
decision as to whether a post mortem is required. In relevant
cases they commence the inquest investigation, take witness statements
and present information to the coroner.
CORONERS REFORM
10. Following the Fundamental Review of
Death Certification and Investigation (the Luce report) and the
third Shipman inquiry report in 2003, the Government issued a
position paper in March 2004 proposing a national coroners agency
with oversight of all deaths based around full time independent
coroners. This would have effectively removed the function from
local authorities which the LGA did not oppose as long as appropriate
links were maintained with local services. The paper promised
a draft Bill and white paper within a year, these did not appear.
Responsibility for coroners policy transferred from the Home Office
to the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) in June 2005.
THE LATEST
REFORM PROPOSALS
11. On 6 February 2006, the DCA announced
that a draft Coroners bill would be introduced this spring. The
reforms proposed do not go as far as those published in 2004,
and it is disappointing that the LGA was not consulted on the
change to the Government's published position in advance of the
announcement. We have now had the opportunity to meet with DCA
officials and can offer the following view.
12. The current proposal will:
— leave appointment and funding arrangements
with local authorities and the power to confirm or remove appointments
with the Lord Chancellor;
— give coroners new powers to obtain
information, including medical advice, to help them with investigations
and to dispense with inquests in certain cases;
— create new rights for the bereaved;
— establish a Chief Coroner and an
advisory Coronial Council with the power to commission inspections,
provide guidance and promote good practise;
— change investigation and inquest
processes;
— bring together small areas into whole-time
coronial jurisdictions.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND
GOVERNANCE
13. The LGA agrees there is need for a fundamental
change in the coroners system to improve public confidence, as
there is a widespread view that coroners are not accountable and
do not always provide a consistent or effective service. The LGA
believes that as long as the ultimate power to `hire and fire'
remains with the Lord Chancellor then the coroner will not be
truly accountable, as councils will continue to pay the bills
but have no control over performance and policy. The recent Teesside
case where the 75 year old coroner had a backlog of over 200 cases,
yet only received a `severe reprimand' from the Lord Chancellor
following a private investigation, shows how far this antiquated
system must change to become a modern public service.
14. The LGA believes that an independent
legal function, accountable to the head of the judiciary yet funded
through local taxation, sitting alongside a local authority's
democratic role is an outdated anomaly in a political environment
where council leaders, supported by ODPM ministers, are calling
for local people to be given more control of public services through
devolution of power to communities.
15. The LGA is calling for the coroners
service to:
— either be brought fully into the
judiciary as set out in the government's 2004 position paper,
or,
— become a fully integrated part of
the local authority, working alongside other statutory agencies,
accountable to the local strategic partnership.
16. The government's current proposal represents
a partial reform falling between the two options in paragraph
15. In order to deliver a modern coroners service we believe
this most recent proposal would benefit from robust accountability
arrangements such as:
— joint governance arrangements between
councils and the Lord Chancellor;
— the Chief Coroner to be jointly appointed
by DCA and ODPM, with local authority representation on the advisory
council;
— council overview and scrutiny committees
to have the power to review local coroners performance, send a
report to the Lord Chancellor and request a response within 28
days;
— coroners to be subject to the same
terms, conditions and employment policies as other local government
officers;
— a `trigger' mechanism for the bereaved
that will lead to a review of the coroner's investigative process
by the DCA;
— mechanisms to ensure councils can
keep costs under control;
— inspection consistent with public
sector regulatory reform ie by self or peer assessment.
FUNDING
17. Uncertainties about the future of the
service since 2002 mean that some authorities have been reluctant
to invest in service improvements, leading to uneven provision
around the country. The government's latest proposals clearly
represent new financial burdens for councils and we would expect
them to be fully funded by DCA. That being said, we also want
some mechanism to ensure that ongoing costs are under council
control to ensure efficiency and effectiveness and minimal burdens
on local taxation.
18. The uncertainty has also led to some
police forces threatening to remove long standing funding that
supports coroners officers which means that the burden would fall
on councils. We would not want to see these proposals used as
reason for more police forces to withdraw funding without proper
compensation.
OTHER MATTERS
19. Any new coronial districts must be co-terminus
with councils, police, criminal justice and health services.
The Local Government Association (LGA)
March 2006
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