UK Parliament / Open data

Coroners and Justice Bill

I thank the Minister for his explanation and for correctly interpreting the intention behind all of this. In summing up, he spoke about guidance. I shall push a little bit further on whether there is an intention to include in guidance that best practice would record the broader context of the how, not the narrow. We could, perhaps, seek in guidance that best practice by the coroner would, wherever possible, give a steer to the Office for National Statistics over which coding might be appropriate, without necessarily making that the definitive coding. The narrative verdict would then provide a backdrop, if you like, to the coding. Rather than coding cold and blind, however, the ONS would have some guidance from the person who had actually been there and heard all the information that came forward so that the facts could be appropriately classified. Those facts have a long-standing implication—in fact, for the rest of the lives of the bereaved. They live with whatever was found at that time, so I should like to push the noble Lord a little further on guidance and on good and best practice.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
711 c618 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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