Moved by
Lord Rosser
157: After Clause 110, insert the following new Clause—
“Police and crime commissioners: parity of funding at inquests
(1) Where the police force for which a police and crime commissioner is responsible is an interested person for the purposes of an inquest into—
(a) the death of a member of an individual family, or
(b) the deaths of members of a group of families,
under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, the commissioner has the duties set out in this section.
(2) The police and crime commissioner must make recommendations to the Secretary of State as to whether the individual family or the group of families at the inquest require financial support to ensure parity of legal representation between parties to the inquest.
(3) If a police and crime commissioner makes a recommendation for financial support under subsection (2), then the Secretary of State must provide financial assistance to the individual family or the group of families to ensure parity of funding between the individual family or the group of families and the other party to the inquest.
(4) The individual family or the group of families may use funding authorised under this section solely for the purpose of funding legal representation at the inquest.
(5) In this section, “interested person” has the same meaning as in section 47 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.”