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Coroners System (Reform)

We expect that there will be more than one coroner in cities. There will be at least one coroner in every county, and usually more than one, depending on the population. I cannot give a specific answer, but I accept the point that the hon. Gentleman has made. Coroners have mediaeval jurisdictions, which they control—no one else is allowed to sit there, and they are not allowed to sit in anyone else’s jurisdiction—so it is impossible to do something simple and straightforward such as re-allocating a coroner to another jurisdiction to deal with a backlog. That is the problem with the statutory legal framework, and it is a simple but important thing that we will change.