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ITEM CM5 - ANNEX 1

COMMUNITY SAFETY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

MINUTES of the meeting held on 5 February 2007 commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 12:30 pm.

46/06    CORONERS COURT UPDATE

(Agenda Item 11)

At the last meeting of this Committee Councillors Charles Mathew and Lesley Legge had been tasked with undertaking some initial research into the Coroners’ Court, to look into the changes to this service. way this service was run.

Members of the Committee had before them a short briefing note produced by Councillors Mathew and Legge which set out their basic research to date on the Coroner’s Service. Court.

Members of the Committee were asked to decide whether or not to pursue any further investigation into this area.

Councillors Mathew and Legge reported as follows:

·        the work of the Coroner’s Service was extremely complex and most of the costs were unavoidable; the responsibilities and costs were spread over a number of departments (Police, Coroner’s Court, OCC, NHS (Mortuary)inter alios;

·        spending had been cut back for undertakers; 

·        the Service was responsible for Inquests into unexplained deaths and for Department for Constitutional Affairs and Treasure Trove;

·        The National Joint Council set rates for pay and expenses, and Thames Valley Police provided Coroner’s officers;

·        There was an enormous backlog of work from up to May 2006 and thereafter mainly onwards due to recent conflicts (Iraq and Afghanistan);

·        due to the impending changes in personnel, it would be convenient to review the responsibilities, organisation and costs of the service and their allocation at this time;

and urged the Committee to approve further investigation.

and urged the Committee to undertake a review into this area.  In their view, the review could commence in January or February 2007 at the earliest.

Mr Chris Mitchell (Proper Coroner’s Representative) commented that the Coroner’s officers were under considerable pressure to clear the backlog of work and that he wished the review to be delayed until March 2007 when it was anticipated that the backlog to May 2006 would have been cleared.

The Committee AGREED:

(a)         to undertake a review into the Coroner’s Court; and

(b)         to appoint Councillor Marilyn Badcock to the Review Panel (joining Councillors Lesley Legge and Charles Mathew).

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