To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of the operation of coroners’ courts in each of the last five years. (279650)

The Ministry of Justice does not have any operational responsibility for the coroner service. The costs of operating coroners’ courts are shared between coroners’ respective local authorities and police authorities, and no costing information is kept centrally by this Department. Data collected by Communities and Local Government give total revenue spending by local authorities on the coroner service over the last five years as:

These figures do not include capital spending by local authorities or costs incurred by police forces, for which no data are available.