County coroners' services face merger

Devon County Council would prefer to merge services but retain this coroner's court in Plymouth

Devon’s two coroners’ offices could merge as part of a plan to "streamline" county services.

The county is overseen by the Exeter and Greater Devon coroners’ service, with a second one serving Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon.

It comes after the retirement of the senior coroner for Plymouth in March prompted the Ministry of Justice to ask Devon to consider merging the two operations.

Devon’s senior coroner has already been covering the whole county since April, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The chief coroner has stated the number of areas should be reduced to create “sensibly sized coroner areas,” taking into account the number of reported deaths, geographical size and types of coroner work in the area.

To merge areas, the local authority has to outline its business case to the chief coroner and the Ministry of Justice, with the latter then consulting relevant parties, such as the local police force, on the proposal.

The local authority can then make its application for a merger to the lord chancellor.

The council said the proposal would “ensure that the service to families will be more robust and consistent across the county.”

Maria Price, director of legal and democratic services at the county council, said the preferred option was to merge the service, but retain the coroner’s courts in Exeter and Plymouth, to ease access for residents in different areas.

Police support

She told a county council cabinet meeting that costs would not increase as a result of the changes, which would see it become the lead local authority for the coroner’s service.

Any costs incurred would be reimbursed, Ms Price added.

Costs of coroners’ services include the provision of mortuaries, pathology services, forensic testing and inquests.

It is unclear when the merger might happen, but the entire assessment and consultation process may take up to six months.

However, support from the county’s senior coroner and Devon and Cornwall Police, suggests the merger will go ahead.