Coroners and Justice Bill

I am very conscious of the author of the opinion, for whom I personally have a high regard, as no doubt the noble and learned Baroness does too. I see no reason why—having first asked permission of my noble and learned friend the Attorney-General, as she would expect me to do—the opinion should not be shown to the Director of Public Prosecutions. I appreciate that my answer will not be satisfactory to the supporters of the noble Baroness’s amendments. I do not hold out great hopes that, if we come back to this in the autumn, I will be able to give any ground, let alone major ground. I will just say that during the next few months we will consider carefully everything that has been said in this debate, the opinion and other matters that come to our attention, particularly with regard to police activity and behaviour in this field. If we do come back to this in the autumn, I look forward to that debate as well. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Young, and her supporters for the meeting that we had last week during which I, certainly, learnt a lot.