Legislative scrutiny: Coroners and Justice Bill (certified inquests), sixteenth report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes and written evidence

The Committee previously reported on the Coroners and Justice Bill in March (8th report of session 2008-09, HL Paper 57/HC 362 , ISBN 9780104424957) and concluded, amongst other things, that the Government’s proposal to certify certain inquests, so that at least part of the inquest could proceed without a jury and without the participation of the bereaved family, should be dropped. The Committee was concerned that certified inquests would contravene Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular the requirement that inquests should involve participation by the next of kin. The report argued that the Government had provided insufficient evidence of the need for the new provision and that the human rights of bereaved families were inadequately protected. The Government published amendments to the relevant clauses on 17 March and the Committee considers these amendments in this report. The overall conclusion is that the amendments do not assuage the Committee’s our concerns and it reiterates the call for the proposal to be dropped. The report also deals with a number of detailed points concerning the application of the Government’s proposals on coroners’ reform to Northern Ireland.