The UK Government is currently putting through an emergency Coronavirus Bill, with provisions for up to two years which will empower all four UK based governments to deal with increased pressures as expected with the current Covid-19 pandemic. There are several sections, including one entitled Managing the deceased with respect and dignity.
The Bill will "ensure the deceased are treated with the utmost respect and dignity and that the current procedures in relation to death and still-birth registration and management are modified to enable this and to protect public health." It includes changes with regards to death registration (who can register, medical certification, etc), the role of coroners (England, Wales and NI) including suspension of requirements in the remove the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, suspension of certain functions enabled through the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016, and empowerment of the Scottish Government to suspend the need to refer certificates to the Death Certification Review Service (DCRS) for review in Scotland under the Certification of Death (Scotland) Act 2011, if it chooses to do so.
I won't cut and paste the full provision here - you can find the details of the Bill outlined at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-bill-what-it-will-do/what-the-coronavirus-bill-will-do.
Chris
You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.
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