Coroners and Justice Bill

The new clauses respond to the calls from service families in Scotland, as well as Members of the House—particularly my right hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Mr. Ingram), who has pressed us in this regard—for action to enable fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of service personnel killed abroad to be held in Scotland when their families are based there. The new clauses will do that by amending the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 to allow fatal accident inquiries to be held in Scotland for those who are killed abroad while on active service, or while supporting, or involved in the training of, those on active service. This means that in most cases their families will not need to travel to England to attend an inquest. We have been examining this issue for some time with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and the Scotland Office and with the Scottish Executive. These discussions were still ongoing at the time of the Bill's introduction, which is why these provisions were not included earlier. I am very grateful for the support of my ministerial colleagues and others, and for the co-operative and constructive way in which this matter has been dealt with. There is currently no legislative basis under Scottish law for the Lord Advocate to investigate any death abroad. Current arrangements enable investigations to be held in England and Wales into deaths of all service personnel killed on operations, because fatalities from Iraq and Afghanistan are repatriated via either RAF Brize Norton or RAF Lyneham. Therefore, the inquests have been carried out by the local coroners in either Oxfordshire or Wiltshire. Families based in Scotland, however, have had to travel to England for inquests, which has caused them extra difficulties when they already have to cope with the burden of bereavement and concern about the circumstances of their loved ones' deaths. These new clauses will rectify that problem, and put Scottish families in the same position as other families in England and Wales, where, when it is appropriate, the investigation is transferred to the coroner closest to the family's home.