Purpose

Proposed
decision:
To approve the proposal to merge the existing
four coronial jurisdictions into a single jurisdiction following
the retirement of one of the two Senior Coroners.
 
Reason for the
decision
 
According to the Chief
Coroner’s Office, there are currently 85 coroner
jurisdictions in England and Wales and the long-term joint target
with the Ministry of Justice is to reduce the number to around 75.
Mergers are always considered when the opportunity arises,
invariably when a senior coroner retires. The merging of coroner
jurisdictions has many benefits as combining jurisdictions leads to
greater consistency and uniformity of approach within the coroner
service. A reduction in the number of coroner jurisdictions over
the last few years has been of considerable benefit.
 

Background

 
Mr
Roger Hatch, Senior Coroner for the jurisdiction of North West Kent
resigned on the 29th of November 2024 to retire in June
2025. 
 
There
are currently four coronial jurisdiction in Kent and Medway. Mr
Hatch is Senior Coroner to one of them. Mrs Patricia Harding is
Senior Coroner, or Acting Senior Coroner, to the other
three.
 
Mr
Hatch’s retirement, therefore, presents the opportunity to
formally merge the jurisdiction into one.
 
 
How the proposed decision supports
Framing Kent’s Future 2022-2026: (https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/strategies-and-policies/corporate-policies/our-council-strategy)
 
The
decision concerns the efficient and effective provision of
infrastructure for the community in managing the death pathway,
reaching appropriate judicial conclusions and supporting the
bereaved.
 

How the proposed decision supports: Securing Kent’s Future:

democracy.kent.gov.uk/documents/s121235/Securing Kents Future -
Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf
 
The
merged jurisdictions will allow for fully consistent service
delivery across Kent and Medway, allowing some initial efficiencies
to be made but putting in place the structure to capitalise on any
future efficiency opportunities.

Options considered and discarded
Do nothing. This
would be counter to the direction of travel of the Chief Coroner
who has supported the existing temporary arrangements for three of
the four jurisdictions It is likely that those three Jurisdictions
would need to be merged, leaving one single
jurisdiction without a Senior Coroner and needing to have one
appointed. Doing nothing would also limit the ability for
efficiencies to be introduced into the services supporting the
coroners.
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Community &
Regulatory Services, I agree to approve the merger of the existing
four coronial Jurisdictions covering Kent and Medway into one
Jurisdiction covering the same geographical area.