Public Bodies Bill [Lords]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who played a distinguished role throughout the Committee's proceedings and spoke on Second Reading and on Third Reading. I know that he pays close attention to such matters as a hard-working constituency representative in the city of Leicester. I agree with his points. Let me outline the reasons why we felt uncomfortable with the direction that the Government were taking. We heard that they were going to perform a fairly undignified climb-down on the post of chief coroner, and it looked like a wholesale victory, but, as is becoming the Government's custom, the announcement was not made in this House or the other place, but to the media. We heard about it on the BBC the night before the Bill went into Committee in the other place. I think that that is deplorable. Many people were misled into saying that it was a wholesale victory for common sense and that the Government had finally listened. However, when we saw the detail of the proposals, it immediately became clear that there was a flaw at their centre. The Government have decided not to delete the post of chief coroner—we welcome that—but they have also decided, as the Minister just said, to repeal section 40 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. That means that there will be no right of appeal against a coroner's decision—as we have heard, from time to time, those decisions are contested—to the chief coroner, as the House originally intended. The Government know perfectly well that there is no need to repeal section 40, which will allow for appeals in due course, since the 2009 Act understood that such action had to be taken carefully. A procedure was therefore put in place so that the process of appealing to the chief coroner would not be invoked until the Secretary of State allowed that to happen. We strongly believe that that should continue. In effect, the removal of the right of appeal will reduce the office of the chief coroner to an administrative post with limited oversight of the coronial system, and that is to be regretted. We agree with Inquest, which has circulated a note to all hon. Members today, that section 40 of the original Act should be retained and that a pilot for the appeals procedure could then be undertaken by the chief coroner when the post is filled. That review could be undertaken alongside the Ministry of Justice's review. That would allow the Government to make an informed decision on how to proceed with reform of the coronial system. It seems that the Government are unwilling to make an informed decision, but have just decided, dogmatically, that there will be no appeals system. I strongly believe that a pilot would prove beyond doubt the efficacy of a national appeals system to the chief coroner. Why on earth would the Government withdraw that power? It is baffling. Now we turn to the reason that the Government have given for the abolition of the right of appeal. The argument has been made in different ways at different times by various Ministers. They have tended to talk about saving money. I will not dwell on the issue of trying to save money by failing to have a proper review of how people may have lost their lives. It is hard to argue that we should save money in such an important area. Be that as it may, the Government have talked about saving money, but their costings are based on an analysis from 2008 and show a total saving—from doing away with the whole chief coroner system—of only £6.5 million. However, the estimated saving on the appeals process alone was only £1.5 million. That is a lot of money, but the saving estimate fails to take into account the likely additional costs that will arise if the Government have their way today and the appeals system is abolished. The problem is that if aggrieved parties are denied the right of appeal to the chief coroner, they will seek judicial review, as the Minister confirmed. I suggest that the cost to the taxpayer of abolishing the appeal process will therefore be far greater than the savings made.