Secretary of State or Lord Chancellor?
54. In the amendments proposed by clause 79 of
the Bill, the Coroners Act 1988 would be amended to enable a list
of "specially appointed coroners" to be maintained by
the Secretary of State, to conduct inquests with secret material.
We asked Lord West why the Bill specified the "Secretary
of State" rather than the "Lord Chancellor" as
the minister responsible for appointing and revoking the appointment
of this new cadre of coroners. Two reasons are given.
55. The first is that the Bill "refers to
the Secretary of State for Justice who is also, of course, the
Lord Chancellor". This is not in our view an accurate account
of the position. The Secretary of State and the Lord Chancellor
are two distinct ministerial offices. They have recently been
occupied by the same person but in law there is no requirement
that this is so. Moreover, in law it is recognised that certain
functions of the Lord Chancellor may not be transferred to other
ministers by order in council in the normal way; they are protected
by primary legislation.[14]
56. The second explanation for selecting Secretary
of State rather than Lord Chancellor is that "the Secretary
of State/Lord Chancellor is responsible for the law and policy
relating to the current coroner system, although he has limited
powers only with regard to the deployment of coroners, and none
at all in relation to their selection and appointment". We
accept that under the Coroners Act 1988, coroners are appointed
and paid by local authorities. Under section 3 it is however the
Lord Chancellor who has a power to remove any coroner from office
for inability or misbehaviour in the discharge of his duty.
57. In our view, it is the Lord Chancellor,
not a Secretary of State, who should be responsible for appointing
and revoking the appointment of "specially appointed coroners".
Coroners are independent judicial officers. Under the Constitutional
Reform Act 2005, the Lord Chancellor has special responsibilities
in relation to the rule of law and a duty to defend the independence
of the judiciary. The Lord Chancellor already has powers
in relation to dismissal of coroners. We call upon the Government
to think again (as they did in relation to the Legal Services
Bill where the minister responsible was initially the Secretary
of State before the Government conceded that the Lord Chancellor
was the appropriate minister).
14 
