Let me start with some exciting news. The esteemed editor of this august publication Laura Hitchcock and I are going into business together and setting up a new commercial venture. In the absence of any other idea, we have decided to become funeral directors. We will offer the full service as well as administer a pre-paid funeral plan for those who wish to pay for their funerals in instalments and in advance. Now, I think I hear one or two of you saying ‘interesting, but what experience have you got in this area?’ The answer dear reader is none. And. Guess what? We don’t need any. All we ‘need’ are the formalities of setting up a limited company and some advertising. In a society and economy where business and most areas of our daily lives are regulated or inspected or licenced the undertaking business has no such burdens or obligations. We have rules governing pubs, burger bars, tattoo parlours, cafes etc but absolutely nothing about how we deal with our dead. The only legislation covering the deceased is the 1857 Burials Act which mostly deals with the exhumation of a body. Common Law has set expectations about a decent burial but that’s about it. There is a greater requirement on a farmer moving livestock than there is on an undertaker moving a body.
I knew none of the above until I was a Minister and a very bad case of undertaker failure occurred in Hull. Alongside the Ministry of Justice, we looked into the situation and were appalled to find that there is simply no statutory, licensing or qualification requirement to set up as an undertaker. However, before panic sets in we can have confidence that the vast majority of funeral directors know what they are doing and do it well. There are several standard setting voluntary membership trade bodies that around 80% of operators belong to. They do inspect and help to set operating standards. However, that still means around 20% are not members of any of these bodies and, even if they were and were found to fall below expected standards and are expelled from that trade body they can still continue to trade. The sector has grown up under a societal expectation that our dead will be treated with dignity and respect in the period between death and funeral. But it is just that, an expectation or an assumption. There is nothing to back it up or enforce it.
Ministerial colleagues and I were working up detailed plans to rectify this and then the 2024 Election was held. A new Government. Same old issue. So, it was against this backdrop and a receiving a rather underwhelming, ‘in the fullness of time’ type answer to a Written Parliamentary Question, that I secured an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons to get this issue in public and on the record. I was at pains to stress to the Government (an issue that they did understand) that whereas usually when one seeks to introduce a new tier of paperwork and regulation there is kickback from operators and their sector representative bodies. Not so in this case. The trade bodies want licensing, inspection and statutory regulation. The operators of excellent do not want the limited but existing rotten apples to poison the barrel and erode public trust and confidence. I was buoyed by the fact that there was strong interest from other MPs in the Commons and an united and clear message to Government that doing nothing is not an option. The Minister clearly got this. The issue is that it’s an issue which affects a number of Government departments - the Department of Health & Social Care if it is to be the Human Tissue Authority that has an inspection role, the Department of Housing & Local Government if local councils are to have an role in licensing (this is my preferred option), The Treasury / Financial Conduct Authority regarding the supervising of the selling of pre-paid plans, the Department for Business in terms of commercial issues and the Ministry of Justice as it is the department that covers the Burial Act and registration of deaths. My first task will be to establish which department is taking the lead and co-ordinating across Government. The second will be, alongside other colleagues, pressing for legislation that will drive the cowboys out, protect the good operators and ensure public confidence in this sensitive but vital area.
