It certainly is. I had prepared to respond to the amendments and am happy to do so if the Committee finds that more helpful. I see some nodding heads, in which case I will do it that way instead. I will obviously direct the right reverend Prelate to Hansard. I am very grateful.
A central point which is really important is that coroners are judicial office holders—whether they go back to William the Conqueror is not directly relevant for these purposes, although it was interesting. That point is important: they are not administrators or decision-makers; they are judicial office holders. Ultimately, it is therefore up to the coroner, circumscribed by statute, how to conduct their investigations and inquests. I respectfully ask the Committee to bear that in mind when considering a number of these amendments, to which I will now turn.
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Let me start with Amendment 40, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, and Amendment 41 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby. They both deal with the new power that the Bill gives coroners to discontinue an investigation in certain circumstances, seeking to add additional safeguards and an appeal process. Section 4 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 provides that a discontinuance does not apply where there is reason to suspect that cause of death is by violent or unnatural causes, or where a death was in custody or otherwise in state detention. So, for example, families whose relatives have died in prison custody or a mental health setting would still have an inquest even if the cause of death was revealed to be natural causes. The intention behind this measure is to support the drive to reduce unnecessary procedures in coroners’ courts, thereby reducing delays and distress to bereaved families. In most cases where the cause of death is revealed as being natural causes, the bereaved family will be relieved that the investigation can be discontinued at that point.
Section 4(4) of the 2009 Act also provides that coroners who discontinue an investigation into a death must, if requested, provide a written explanation as to why an investigation has been discontinued. I would certainly expect coroners to work sensitively with all interested persons, whether family members or others, and I would also expect them to address any concerns those persons may have in relation to the discontinuance
decision. I am also able to confirm that the Chief Coroner will provide guidance to coroners accompanying any law changes, should this provision pass into legislation.
I turn to Amendment 41. Interested persons who are not content with a coroner’s decision to discontinue an investigation already have the right to challenge that decision through judicial review or, in certain circumstances, through application to the High Court with the authority of the Attorney-General. So, we do not think an appeals process is appropriate, because the family is not a party in the sense that we use that word when we are talking about adversarial litigation. Coroners are inquisitorial, not adversarial, and we do want to preserve that. That is something that the Chief Coroner, I know, is very focused on. We do not want coroners’ inquests to become adversarial proceedings; we want them to remain inquisitorial.