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Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Section 6: Duty to hold inquest

80.Section 6 provides that the coroner must conduct an inquest as part of the investigation unless he or she has had reason to discontinue it under section 4, following a post-mortem examination

81.The 1988 Act is expressed in terms of a duty to “hold an inquest”. This does not reflect the entirety of what coroners do. In 2008, some 235,000 deaths were reported to a coroner, and there were about 31,000 inquests. Under the Act, the inquest will form, when relevant, the final part of the investigation process. The Government does not anticipate that the number of inquests will increase or decrease significantly in a reformed system.

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