Evidence submitted by the National Association
of Funeral Directors
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 On behalf of the National Association
of Funeral Directors (NAFD), I would like to welcome this inquiry
into the "Reform of the Coroners System and Death Certification".
This reform is of great significance to Funeral Directors and
I am pleased to set out our views on the Position Paper on Reforming
the Coroner and Death Certification Service that was published
by the Government in March 2004 (Cm 6159).
1.2 The National Association of Funeral
Directors is the country's leading funeral Trade Association and
is dedicated to maintaining the highest professional standards.
Established in 1905, the NAFD represents the interests of the
entire spectrum of funeral directing businesses—including
independent businesses, the Co-operatives and major funeral groups—who
conduct in excess of 80% of UK funerals.
2. OUR VIEWS
ON THE
POSITION PAPER
We have four principal concerns about the Position
Paper:
2.1 Geographic availability of Coroners
The Position paper suggests that the 127 coroners
jurisdictions in England and Wales are reduced to approximately
60. It would appear that the new coroners boundaries would be
set on the basis of population (ie including approximately one
million population per coroners region). This would have the effect
of huge variations in the geographic size of each coroners region,
and for example, would result in only three or four coroners for
the entire area of Wales. We are concerned that this could result
in an increase in the length of time between death and the deceased's
funeral due to the increased travel times that funeral directors
would need to undertake.
2.2 Coroners Removals
The current system of removals of deceased from
the place of death to the coroner's mortuary is organised on an
"ad hoc" basis. There are examples of funeral directors
completing this work on a zero or even negative tendering basis,
and this is considered inappropriate by the Office of Fair Trading.
We believe that there should be a national negotiated rate to
put removals on an even and fair basis.
2.3 Certification for funerals
We are very encouraged to see the proposal for
a single system of certification for funerals be they either burials
or cremations. We are however concerned that the system of Medical
Examiners issuing such certificates may result in a continual
delay between the date of death and the date of the funeral.
2.4 Funding for the new service
We note that one of the specific objectives
is to instigate the new procedures from existing funding. Given
that the coroners will be full time and the new system would involve
the employment of at least 180 qualified Medical Examiners, we
are concerned about whether this objective can be met.
Nigel Lymn Rose
National President
February 2006
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