Funeral directors told to make changes to ensure public trust

Sign up for the View from Westminster e-mail for knowledgeable evaluation straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster e-mail

Funeral directors want to topic themselves to voluntary checks so as to ensure the public trust them, ministers have heard.

Labour MP Emma Hardy known as on the Government to introduce a regulator of funeral directors, following a significant police investigation in her Hull West and Hessle constituency.

Justice Minister Mike Freer stated he’s quickly to meet funeral firm commerce our bodies to focus on voluntary regulation, and told MPs he believes a “comprehensive review” of the regulation round cremation is required.

Legacy Independent Funeral Directors has been below investigation after police recovered 35 our bodies, in addition to suspected human ashes, at its web site in Hessle Road in Hull.

More than 1,500 calls have been made to police by earlier Legacy Independent Funeral Directors clients because the probe started, Humberside Police have stated.

Police beforehand arrested a 46-year-old man and a 23-year-old girl on suspicion of prevention of a lawful and respectable burial, fraud by false illustration and fraud by abuse of place.

The pair have been launched on bail pending additional inquiries.

In the Commons, Ms Hardy stated she is “utterly committed to regulating this industry and never again allowing that appalling, heartbreaking situation to be repeated”.

She added: “I wondered if (the minister) could speak a little bit more about timeframes and whether he agrees that, in the meantime, before statutory regulation comes in, if we could encourage all funeral directors to subject themselves to the voluntary regulation provided by one of the trade bodies instead, and do everything they can to reassure the public that not all funeral directors are like the appalling situation that we have had in my constituency?”

Justice minister Mr Freer stated he’s working alongside communities minister Simon Hoare on the preliminary response to the incident in Hull.

He added: “The call for evidence on where we go on regulation will commence in the next few months. Where it goes, of course, we have to wait for public consultation.

“What I am doing is meeting this afternoon with the two major trade bodies to see how they can assist on voluntary inspections to ensure that what we have seen has come out of this terrible incident – which nobody would have thought could have possibly would have occurred, is quite horrific – is that we get this right so that people do have confidence in the vast majority of funeral directors who are entirely respectable and treat the deceased with the respect and with the care that they expect.”

Mr Freer earlier told the Commons that laws on cremation have been “updated when needed” up to now, including: “In light of developments since then, I believe a more comprehensive review is needed, and that is why the Law Commission have therefore agreed to consider the law governing cremation as part of their burial, cremation and new funerary methods project.

“That has already commenced and we await their findings with interest.”