Bereaved families are to be given new powers to challenge coroner's decisions and some inquests will be held behind closed doors as a result of sweeping changes to the coroner's system announced yesterday.
The constitutional affairs minister, Harriet Harman, said the new discretion for coroners would prevent the media from publicising personal details, including the names of the dead, in cases where there was no public interest, such as suicides or deaths involving children.
The draft bill detailing the reform of the coroner's system involves a shift from a service of 111 part-time coroners to 65 professional full-timers with a new appeals process so that bereaved families get proper legal status and may challenge coroners' decisions.
The relatives of the dead will be able to ask the coroner for a second opinion on a death certificate and be able to challenge a coroner's decision and appeal to a new chief coroner.
But Home Office proposals outlined in 2004 for an independent check on the cause of every death following the official inquiry report into the mass murders by the GP Harold Shipman have been rejected. Ministers said this option would prove too expensive, and subjecting every death to extra medical scrutiny was too bureaucratic.
In 2005, 232,000 of the 513,000 deaths in England and Wales were reported to coroners who ordered 114,600 post mortem examinations and held 29,300 inquests. Most coroners also work as solicitors or doctors.
The drive to reform the coroners' system follows criticism of its ability to handle high-profile disasters such as the Hillsborough tragedy, the Zeebrugge disaster and the sinking of the Marchioness. The difficulties of handling complex cases such as deaths in custody have exacerbated the problem.
Ms Harman said the new system would ensure that the public interest was served by proper inquiries into deaths and the bereaved got the answers they needed.
"The bill includes changes that will give coroners greater powers to call evidence for their investigations, and have dedicated medical advice available to them. It will end the archaic boundary restrictions that hamper progress when there are major incidents."
Ms Harman said the coroner reform bill was also the first piece of legislation to be published in plain English.
The traditional parliamentary language is still there so that the courts can interpret the law but each clause also has a clear explanation written in plain English.
Ann Alexander, the lawyer who acted for the relatives of the mass murderer Harold Shipman, welcomed the reform plans saying they were long overdue, but questioned whether they went far enough. "Shipman was a doctor who avoided the law whilst murdering his patients by exploiting all the loopholes in the current system. This bill will go a long way to close one of these loopholes, but others remain," she said.
Shipman evaded detection by saying his victims died of natural causes. The new legislation will give relatives the power to ask for a second opinion on death certificates.
The legislation will also set up a new post of chief coroner in England and Wales for the first time with responsibility for developing national standards, and a system of inspection to improve the services given to the bereaved.
