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26 Jun 2008 : Column WS115
26 Jun 2008 : Column WS115
26 Jun 2008 : Column WS115
Thursday 26 June 2008
Coroners (Amendment) Rules 2008
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My honourable friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bridget Prentice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I have today laid before Parliament the Coroners (Amendment) Rules 2008. These rules amend Rule 43 of the Coroners Rules 1984 regarding coroners’ powers to make reports to prevent future deaths, and introduce a new rule to allow coroners to share relevant information with Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) to enable them to carry out their statutory functions.
The amended Rule 43 places a new statutory duty on organisations receiving reports from coroners to respond within 56 days. Coroners must share reports and responses with those, including bereaved families, to whom they have assigned “interested person” status. They must also share reports and responses with the Lord Chancellor and they may share reports and responses with other interested organisations. Reports and responses will be centrally collated for the first time so that lessons learnt can be disseminated widely where appropriate and there is national oversight more generally.
A new rule will require coroners to notify LSCBs of any child death which is reported to them, and over which they have jurisdiction, and allow them to share information (such as reports from post-mortem examinations and documents given in evidence at an inquest) with LSCBs. This will enable LSCBs to better meet their statutory duty to conduct child death reviews and will contribute to the fulfilment of their statutory obligations more generally.
The rule was developed in partnership with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which is responsible for legislation regarding LSCBs.
Diplomatic Immunity: Serious Offences
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (David Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
In 2007, 20 serious offences allegedly committed by people entitled to diplomatic immunity were drawn to the attention of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Serious offences are defined as offences that would, in certain circumstances, carry a penalty of 12 months or more imprisonment. Some 24,000 people are entitled to diplomatic immunity in the United Kingdom.
The table below lists those foreign missions whose diplomats allegedly committed serious offences and the type of offence from 2003-07.
26 Jun 2008 : Column WS116
| 2003 | |
| 2004 | |
| 2005 | |
|
Theft and Robbery (of Motor Vehicle, Driving without Insurance) | |
| 2006 | |
|
Failure to Stop for Police/Driving without Insurance and Licence | |
| 2007 | |
|
Driving without insurance and driving under the influence of alcohol | |
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