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Coroners System (Reform)

May I strongly welcome the proposals for proper appointments, training and discipline for coroners? The people of Teesside have long suffered under a part-time coroner, now aged 76, who has never seen the need to acquire any administrative skills or management experience, and has often had a backlog of 200 or 300 cases over six months old. All the MPs in the area have witnessed people crying at their surgeries because they are quite unable to grieve while waiting two, three or four years for an inquest to understand what happened to their loved one. Can my right hon. and learned Friend give me an absolute assurance that the proposals will guarantee that my constituents and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor), who has mentioned the problem, will never suffer again under what is, after all, a public service?