Amendment to Coroners and Justice Bill proposed
28 October 2009
The Royal British Legion has welcomed an amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill, which would improve military inquests. The amendment, proposed by Baroness Fookes, requires a Deputy Chief Coroner to have specific responsibility for overseeing military inquests and for the specialist training of all coroners undertaking military inquests.
Legion Director General, Chris Simpkins, said, "The Legion is very grateful to Baroness Fookes and to all those Peers who supported this important amendment. We believe it strengthens the Bill because it recognises that military inquests are different and require specialist expertise. That expertise needs to be developed and sustained, and entrusting a Deputy Coroner with responsibility for this is simple common sense and the right thing to do. We call on the Government to make absolutely clear as soon as possible that it will respect this crucial amendment and not seek to reverse it when the Bill returns to the Commons."
