Speeches by Hoare.

“The Committee is grateful for that answer. You are the commissioner for victims and survivors, Mr McVey, and we have the creation of an advisory group, as suggested in the Bill. Mr Johnstone, we now have one advisory group being set up to, if you like, mirror the work of the commission in that respect. Do you think tha…”

“A very quick question to Mr Johnstone. Good faith and trust are hugely important in all these processes—I think everybody would recognise that. I am asking you for a hunch, really: if Dublin and Westminster were able to arrive at a timetable whereby whatever it was agreed was necessary legislatively was delivered in lo…”

“I do agree. In many respects, the only bit of legislation on which we can rest a serious prosecution is the Burial Act 1857, which deals with the corpse post internment. It is silent on the corpse’s treatment from the point of death through to the point of either internment or cremation. There is an enormous vacuum in …”

“There are many issues that will divide this House and many issues that will divide society, but one thing that probably unites all of us, and indeed society, is that we have a legitimate expectation of decent and respectful treatment for our dead. I do not think that is asking too much. The vast majority of funeral dir…”

“I fundamentally agree with what the hon. Gentleman said, as would the lion’s share of operators, because they are acutely aware of a crisis of public confidence in the sector’s ability to deliver.”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) is absolutely right to draw the attention of the House to the Nolan principles of public life. Keeping a weather eye on those principles falls within the auspices of my Select Committee, the Public Administration and Constitutional …”

“I entirely agree, and I make this point again for the Minister’s benefit: he will not be trying to push water uphill in pushing for a regulatory and/or licensing regime. The good guys and girls want it to happen because it would give certainty. I can share with the House—I hope it is not breaching a confidence—that whe…”

“I am very sorry to hear what the hon. Gentleman has relayed; I know that the whole House will send prayers, thoughts and sympathies to his constituents. What a terrible thing to be dealing with in what are already tragically sad circumstances. He is right to urge the Minister to give a turbocharged and energised respon…”

“The Justice Secretary will know that police operational independence, free from political interference, is crucial and is enshrined in the police protocol. Yet, on page three of the statement which the Secretary of State just gave, he told us—I checked against delivery—that over the weekend he “chaired three operationa…”

“I agree with my hon. Friend. It is a great strength to be a member of the trade association, because it gives an imprimatur of quality to the families choosing a funeral director, just as customers would choose a CORGI-registered boiler fitter or FENSA for windows. As the trade associations themselves have made clear, …”

“Let me just continue. The Minister and I would not need a licence and we would not be inspected; all we would have to do is put up a sign saying “Funeral Directors” with the hours of operation on it. That cannot be right. It cannot be right that when a funeral director is running out of credit with their local cremator…”

“I want to draw my remarks to a close, but not before I have given way to the hon. Gentleman.”

“The hon. Lady has hit upon the key word—assumed. Why would people think to think anything else? Funeral directors have chosen their profession—it is not like there is a conscript army of funeral directors, press-ganged into dealing with the deceased—so people presume and assume that the highest standards and quality wi…”

“The hon. Lady is scowling at me in such a friendly way that of course I will give way.”

“I agree. In so many choices that we make, the consumer now rightly demands the highest of standards. People want to ensure that the departure of their loved one from the world is as dignified, graceful, calm and respectful as it possibly can be.”

“I agree fundamentally; it would be “the rising tide that floats all ships” argument. I will give way briefly to the hon. Member for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt), and then I have a couple of suggestions for the Minister.”

“Thank you, Lord Murphy, for the work that you did on this. It is clearly important. If I may, I want to ask you a cheeky question—”

“Write it down!”

“You referenced the constraints of the terms of reference, one of which is the requirement for cross-party unanimity. Momentarily setting aside those terms of reference, and if you had a blank cheque, was there anything that was not able to secure cross-party unanimity but that you thought was absolutely key? What is th…”

“A novel approach, but let’s have a go. Specifically, in terms of the commissioners themselves—although I think you have addressed that—if or when there is recourse to the courts, and an expectation of criminal investigation via the PSNI, do they have capacity headroom to deal with these things in a full and timely fash…”