Medical Examiners
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of staffing and resources available to Medical Examiner offices.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
Funding for the medical examiner system is provided by integrated care boards (ICBs) direct to medical examiner offices and data from the National Medical Examiner report for 2025 indicate that staffing levels are broadly in line with the figures set out in the impact assessments published in 2018, 2022, and 2024, that demonstrated that any new cost to doctors or business from implementing the statutory system would be minimal or zero.
There is no evidence of any systemic underfunding. From 2025, funding for medical examiner offices is no longer ringfenced and ICBs, National Health Service trusts, and the Welsh Government are responsible for ensuring offices are funded appropriately.
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