Coroners and Justice Bill

This is an important group of amendments because there is very little point in having any report if it is not appropriately acted upon. That is the principle behind the wording in the amendments. Amendments 117 and 118 concern the report that is to be laid before the House and require that appropriate action is taken in response to it. The amendments require that reports do not get shelved and gather dust, as so often happens—we know it and we see it only too often—but that they are acted upon. They establish a kind of audit loop whereby change is brought about. There are several aspects of the anguish that bereaved families go through that never hit the press and never come to light. One which might seem tangential to these amendments—but which I would like to put on the record—is the way in which we record what happens in road deaths and the way in which we respond to the enormous catalogue of them which occur year after year. Action is often not taken appropriately. There is a great furore if there is a medical area, and rightly so; there is a great furore if there is child abuse, and rightly so; but we have become numb and almost inured to this repetitive toll of death on our roads. This has been brought to my attention by a bereaved relative who wrote a moving letter to me on this subject knowing that we were debating the Bill. In memory of her son, Adam, who was catastrophically killed in a hit and run, she suggested that we should not call them "accidents"; we should call them "road traffic deaths" and, when people do not die, we should call them "road traffic incidents". She makes a very important point because it is not an accident if it is a hit and run. If you were genuinely in an accident you would be absolutely devastated; you would leap out of the car and want to get all the help that you can; you would feel terrible about it. But some people behave recklessly towards other members of society and kill people in the process and perhaps we need to change our language. As I read the letter, it also struck me that we need to respond to the reports. Too many times the newspapers have printed "lessons will be learnt", "things will have to change", and yet years later nothing has changed. I hope the Government will consider strengthening the role of reports, strengthen the ability to take action afterwards and ensure that people are empowered. What is already in the Bill may seem strong, but I hope that the Government will consider strengthening it a little more so that action is taken after an event, rather than people walking away from an inquest knowing what has been recommended but not feeling honour bound and law bound to do something about it.