Statistics on deaths reported to coroners - England and Wales, 2007 - reissued
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Coroners Statistics. This annual bulletin presents statistics on the workload of coroners in England and Wales. Information is provided on the number of deaths reported to coroners, post-mortem examinations and inquests held and conclusions recorded at inquests. It also covers treasure finds reported to coroners, treasure inquests held under the Treasure Act, and proportion of treasure verdicts returned. The data are collected via annual statistical returns completed by coroners.

Data on deaths reported to the coroner are available by gender, age (of deceased with an inquest conclusion recorded) and coroner area. Information is also available on deaths in state detention (including those individuals subject Deprivation of Liberty orders), inquest conclusions and deaths abroad.

Statistics on deaths reported 
to coroners 
England and Wales, 2007 
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin – re-issued 
 
 
 
 
Originally published 8 May 2008 
Re-issued 8 August 2008 

 
 
Statistics on deaths reported to 
coroners 
England and Wales, 2007 
 
Ministry of Justice 
Statistics bulletin – re-issued 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Also available on the Ministry of Justice website at 
www.justice.gov.uk/publications/coronersannual.htm 
 

 
1 
Executive summary 
This bulletin presents statistics of coroners’ work during the calendar year 2007, 
including deaths reported, post-mortems, and inquests (including those for 
treasure and treasure trove).  These figures are used to monitor coroners’ 
workload, throughput of cases, and percentages of post-mortems and inquests. 
Main points 
• Some 234,500 deaths were reported to coroners in 2007, a rise of 4,500 (2 
per cent) from the 2006 figure. (Tables 1 and 3) 
• The proportion of all registered deaths reported to coroners rose from 45.8 
per cent in 2006 to an estimated 46.5 per cent in 2007, in line with the 
prevailing trend.  (Table 3) 
• The percentage of cases involving post-mortem examinations, as a 
proportion of all deaths reported to coroners, fell from 48 per cent in 2006 to 
47 per cent in 2007, continuing the existing downward trend.  (Table 4) 
• Inquests were held on 30,800 deaths, representing just over 13 per cent of 
all deaths reported to coroners, continuing a slight upward trend.  (Table 4) 
• As in recent years, the most common verdicts returned at inquests were 
death by accident or misadventure (in 33 per cent of cases), deaths from 
natural causes (26 per cent) and suicide (11 per cent).  (Tables 2 and 5) 
• Verdicts of suicide in 2007 fell by 7 per cent compared to the previous year; 
there were also falls in the number of verdicts of death by accident or 
misadventure, open verdicts, and verdicts of death from industrial diseases.  
Verdicts of natural causes rose, and there was a large rise in the number of 
non-specific verdicts, a category which includes narrative verdicts which are 
a factual record of how and in what circumstances the death occurred, often 
used where the cause of death does not easily fit any of the short-form 
categories. (Table 5) 
 
 
 

 
2 
Introduction and important note on counting methodology 
This bulletin presents statistics of deaths reported to coroners in England and 
Wales in 2007 in accordance with section 28 of the Coroners Act 1988.  
Information is provided on deaths reported to coroners, post-mortem 
examinations and inquests held, and verdicts returned at inquests. 
Since 1995, coroners have been asked to report on those deaths notified to 
them which resulted in no further action being taken by them (known as “NFA 
cases”), that is, there was no inquest, no post-mortem, and no certificate was 
issued by them for registration purposes. 
Prior to 1995, however, NFA cases were not reported in the annual statistics.  It 
should be noted therefore that in Tables 3 and 4, which show figures over a 
number of years, figures for the total number of deaths reported to coroners 
since 1995 are not directly comparable to those for earlier years, as they have 
been counted on a different basis. 
Because of differences between coroners as to how these NFA cases were 
reported in their figures, since 2005 all coroners have been asked to include 
these cases within the figures for all deaths reported that required neither an 
inquest nor a post-mortem, with separate figures for NFA cases only if the sex 
of the deceased was not known.  A consistent time series for deaths reported 
excluding NFA cases is therefore not available. 
This is a re-issued version of the statistical bulletin which was originally 
published in May 2008.  In the original version, full data for 2007 were not 
available for the East Sussex and Plymouth and South West Devon districts.  
Data were imputed for each of these jurisdictions based on figures reported in 
previous years.  Actual data for 2007 have now been received for these two 
districts and their figures updated accordingly.  Please see the Explanatory 
Notes section for a summary of their effect on the England and Wales totals, 
which have also been updated as a result. 
This re-issued bulletin also includes a corrected figure for the number of 
registered deaths in England and Wales in 2007, which was published by the 
Office for National Statistics in July 2008.  This was not available when the 
bulletin was originally published, and so an estimated figure was used. 
 

 
Deaths reported (Tables 1, 3 and 4, Figures 1 and 2) 
The number of deaths reported to coroners in 2007 rose by 4,500 (2 per cent) 
from the previous year, from 230,000 in 2006 to 234,500 during 2007, the 
highest annual total to date.  The proportion of registered deaths in the calendar 
year 2007 that were reported to coroners in 2007 rose by a little under one 
percentage point from 45.8 per cent to 46.5 per cent, continuing a long-term 
trend.  This proportion is also the highest figure recorded to date. 
Figure 1: Registered deaths, and deaths reported to coroners, England 
and Wales, 1920-2007  
Grap
h
Graph
Graph
Graph
Graph
Graph
NOTE: The figures for deaths reported to coroners in the columns to the right of the vertical 
dashed line include NFA cases, while those to the left exclude NFA cases (see above). 
 
The long-term trend, as well as that of the proportion of deaths reported, is 
upwards.  Since the Shipman murders, there has been more concern about 
proper process.  In the longer term, this rise is probably also due in part to the 
growing use, over at least the last twenty years, of deputising services by 
general practitioners, leading to greater referrals to coroners. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3 

 
Figure 2: Deaths reported to coroners as a percentage of registered 
deaths, England and Wales, 1995-2007 
Char
t
Chart
     
Post-mortem examinations and inquests (Tables 1, 2, 3 
and 4, Figures 3a and 3b) 
Post-mortem examinations were ordered by coroners in 47 per cent of all cases 
reported to them in 2007.  This represented 110,400 post-mortems in total, 140 
more than in 2006.  The proportion of post-mortem cases fell by just under 1 
percentage point from 2006, continuing the long-term downward trend, despite 
the slight rise in actual numbers of post-mortem examinations performed. 
Figure 3a: Post-mortems as a percentage of deaths reported to coroners, 
England and Wales, 1995-2007 
  
Chart
Chart
 
     
 
 
 
 
 
 
4 

 
Inquests were held on 30,800 deaths reported to coroners in 2007, over 1,500 
more than in 2006, and the highest number since at least 1980.  Inquest cases 
represented just over one in eight of all the deaths reported to coroners in 2007, 
a slight increase on the year before. 
Figure 3b: Inquests as a percentage of deaths reported to coroners, 
England and Wales, 1995-2007 
Chart
Chart
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Post-mortems in inquest cases (Table 4) 
When an inquest is held a post-mortem examination has usually been 
conducted, and in 2007 post-mortems were conducted in 92 per cent of such 
cases.  This compares to 93 per cent in the previous year, and continues a 
shallow declining trend over the past eight or nine years.  Prior to the late 
1990s, the holding of an inquest without a post-mortem examination was 
comparatively rare, accounting for around 2 per cent or less of inquest cases 
every year.  In 2007 there were over 2,300 inquests without a post-mortem, 
over six times the number so reported ten years ago. 
 
Post-mortems in non-inquest cases (Table 4) 
In the majority of cases referred to coroners there is no inquest.  In 2007, there 
were just under 82,000 non-inquest cases requiring a post-mortem, and the 
percentage of non-inquest cases that required a post-mortem fell to 40 per cent.  
This proportion has fallen steadily in recent years; in 1995 the proportion was 
56 per cent.  Figure 3a above refers to all cases, whether there was an inquest 
or not. 
 
5 

 
6 
                                           
Cases requiring neither an inquest nor a post-mortem (Table 4) 
There were also 121,800 cases reported to coroners where there was neither 
an inquest nor a post-mortem.  This particular category of case has been 
increasing in recent years.  Also, as a proportion of all coroners’ cases, those 
where there was neither an inquest nor a post-mortem examination have 
increased from around 40 per cent or just above in the late 1990s, to 52 per 
cent in 2007. 
 
Inquest verdicts (Tables 2, 5 and 6, Figures 4, 5 and 6) 
Verdicts were returned at over 27,300 inquests in 2007, 200 fewer than in 2006.  
As in previous years the most common verdicts in 2007 were: death by accident 
or misadventure (8,900, 33 per cent of all verdicts), deaths from natural causes 
(7,000, 26 per cent), and suicide (3,000, 11 per cent)1. 
The principal rises in 2007 were for verdicts of death from natural causes, up 
180 (3 per cent on the 2006 figure) to over 7,000; and non-specific verdicts, up 
520 (21 per cent) to over 2,900.  The last-mentioned rise is because of the 
increasing use of what are known as ‘narrative verdicts’ by some coroners (see 
the paragraph on trends, below).  A narrative verdict is where, instead of a 
conventional verdict, at the end of the inquest the coroner records a factual 
record of how and in what circumstances the death occurred.  Recent case law, 
including the House of Lords Middleton2 judgement, may be responsible for the 
increasing use of narrative verdicts. 
Verdicts of suicide fell by over 200 (7 per cent) from the 2006 level.  There were 
also falls in the number of verdicts of deaths by accident or misadventure in 
2007 (down 420, but a relatively small percentage fall of only 5 per cent), and in 
the number of open verdicts (down 140, or 6 per cent).  Both of these 
categories have shown fluctuations year on year. 
 
Trends (Table 5 and Figure 4) 
Verdicts of death from natural causes are tending to rise.  There is a long-term 
downward trend in the numbers of verdicts of suicide, though there are 
fluctuations within that trend.  The numbers of open verdicts appear to fluctuate 
with no clearly definable upward or downward trend. 
However, as a proportion of verdicts delivered by coroners during a calendar 
year, there are four main trends, two rising and two falling: verdicts of accident 
 
1 The number of verdicts delivered in any year is not the same as the number of inquests held.  The 
‘number of inquests held’ referred to in this bulletin may include inquests which were still in progress at the 
year’s end, whereas the verdicts discussed in this paragraph necessarily pertain to those inquests which 
have been completed.  Some of these inquests may have begun in a previous year. 
2 R v H.M. Coroner for Western Somersetshire and another ex parte Middleton (2004) 

 
or misadventure are declining steadily, from 48 per cent in 1993 to 33 per cent 
in 2007, and suicide verdicts are declining slowly over the same period, from 
nearly 20 per cent fifteen years ago to around 11 per cent last year.  The two 
rising trends are: firstly, verdicts of natural causes, which have risen from 11 per 
cent in 1993 to around 26 per cent in 2007; and secondly, non-specific verdicts 
(which include narrative verdicts, mentioned above), which formed fewer than 
one per cent of the total until 2001, but accounted for 11 per cent in 2007.  
Other types of verdict show no clear trend, or numbers are too small to identify 
a trend reliably. 
Figure 4: Verdicts returned at inquests, England and Wales, 1987-2007 
*Includes open verdicts, and non-specific verdicts, etc. (see Table 5) 
Grap
h
Gr
aph
Graph
 
Gender differences (Table 2, Figures 5 and 6) 
The pattern of verdicts differs between males and females.  Similar to previous 
years, male deaths accounted for about 69 per cent of all verdicts; but they also 
included 93 per cent of verdicts of death from industrial disease, 78 per cent of 
verdicts of suicide, and 86 per cent of verdicts of death from dependence on, or 
non-dependent abuse of, drugs.  For females, the most common verdict was 
death by accident or misadventure (38 per cent of all female verdicts) followed 
by death from natural causes (30 per cent).  These proportions were all similar 
to those in recent years. 
 
 
7 

 
Figure 5: Verdicts returned at inquests by sex, England and Wales, 2007 
Pie charts
30%
Suicide 12%
Industrial
  disease
12%
Natural 
causes
24%
Drug related 3%
9%
11%
Males
Accident or
misadventure
Industrial
  disease
Natural 
causes
38%
Suicide
8%
2%
Drug 
related
1%
Open 
verdicts
8%
All other 14%
Females
30%
(total = 18,797)
(total = 8,563)
 
Figure 6: Number of verdicts returned at inquests, by sex, England and 
Wales, 2007 
Graph
G
raph
Gra
ph
Graph
 
Juries, and adjourned inquests (Table 6) 
Nearly all inquests in 2007, as in other years, were held without juries.  The 
number of inquests held with juries in 2007 was 540 (representing just under 2 
per cent of all inquests), a modest fall of 30 from 2006, and the second lowest 
since these particular figures were first collected around thirty years ago.  Not 
only the numbers, but the proportions are also falling, from a peak of around 6 
per cent of inquests around twenty years ago. 
8 

 
9 
Around 930 inquests were adjourned by the coroner under Section 16 of the 
Coroners Act 1988 because criminal proceedings were pending and not 
resumed.  This is comparable with the level generally prevailing in recent years. 
 
Treasure and Treasure Trove (Table 6 and Figure 7) 
On 24 September 1997, the Treasure Act 1996 came into force and replaced 
the common law of Treasure Trove in England and Wales.  The 1996 Act 
introduced new requirements for reporting and dealing with finds.  Not all finds 
need be the subject of an inquest.  In 2007, 568 finds were reported and 273 
inquests were concluded, from which a verdict declaring a find to be Treasure 
was returned in 229 cases.  There were also 13 inquests held into Treasure 
Trove in 2007, relating to finds made before the current Act came into force.  It 
is likely that a few such inquests will continue to be held for some time. 
The number of finds reported has been steadily increasing in recent years; this 
is probably because of the increasing popularity of treasure-hunting as a hobby.  
The dip in reported finds in 2001 is almost certainly due to the foot-and-mouth 
outbreak, which severely restricted access to land during the spring of that year. 
Figure 7: Finds reported to coroners and inquests held under the Treasure 
Act, 1997-2007 
Grap h
Graph
 

 
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30 
 DEATHS REPORTED TO CORONERS 
January to December 2007 
COUNTY: 
 
 
DISTRICT: 
 
PLEASE READ THE NOTES CAREFULLY BEFORE COMPLETING 
SECTION A:   DEATHS REPORTED TO CORONER IN 2007 
 
With post mortem 
Without post mortem 
TOTAL 
 
Male 
Female 
Total 
Male 
Female 
Total 
Male 
Female 
Total 
(i)   Deaths reported to the coroner which, after 
investigation, resulted (or will result) in the issue of a 
certificate but no inquest 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(ii)  Deaths reported to coroners on which inquests are to 
be or were opened (even if not concluded) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TOTAL   (i)+(ii)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
              (A) 
(iii) Number of cases transferred out of district under Section 14 of the Coroners Act 1988 (not to be included above) 
 
(iv) Deaths reported or referred to the coroner requiring neither inquest nor the issue of any certificate MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE “NO INQUEST NO POST MORTEM” box above, along 
with cases where certificates were issued.    For cases where sex of deceased not known, please append a note to the form indicating the number of such cases, or write in the margin. 
 
SECTION B:   VERDICTS RETURNED AT INQUESTS IN 2007 
                     (including inquests with juries) 
 
SECTION C:   INQUESTS ADJOURNED under Sections 16 and 17A of the 
          Coroners Act 1988 which it has been decided NOT TO RESUME DURING 2007 
 
 
Numbers of verdicts 
(not treasure inquests) 
 
 
Subsection under which 
adjournment occurs 
 
Male 
Female 
TOTAL 
 
 
Section 
16(1)(a) 
Section 
16(1)(b) 
Section    
17A 
TOTAL 
Killed unlawfully 
 
 
 
 
Murder 
 
 
 
 
Killed lawfully 
 
 
 
 
Manslaughter 
 
 
 
 
Suicide 
 
 
 
 
Infanticide 
 
 
 
 
Attempted or self-induced abortion 
 
 
 
 
Charges of causing death 
contrary to RTA 1988  
 
 
 
 
Cause of death aggravated by lack of 
care, or self-neglect 
 
 
 
 
Aiding, abetting, counselling 
or procuring suicide 
 
 
 
 
Dependence on drugs 
 
 
 
 
Other criminal charges 
 
 
(1)  
 
Non-dependant abuse of drugs 
 
 
 
 
Disaster inquiry 
 
 
 
 
Want of attention at birth 
 
 
 
 
TOTAL [All  charges] 
 
 
 
(C) 
Deaths from industrial diseases 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Deaths by accident or misadventure 
 
 
 
 
SECTION D:   INQUESTS, INQUISITIONS AND EXHUMATIONS IN 2007 
Stillborn 
 
 
 
 
 
With 
juries 
Without 
juries 
TOTAL 
Deaths from natural causes 
 
 
 
 
Number of inquests 
   (not treasure)  
 
 
 
(= B+C ) 
Open verdicts 
 
 
 
 
of which:  Inquests held by order of the High Court 
 
Disasters (where inquest resumed after 
adjournment under S.17A of Coroners 
Act 1988) 
 
 
 
 
 
           Inquests quashed or amended by the High Court 
 
All other verdicts (including narrative 
verdicts )  (1) 
 
 
(1) 
 
Number of inquests on treasure trove 
 
TOTAL [All verdicts] 
 
 
(B) 
 
CASES DEALT WITH UNDER THE TREASURE ACT 1996:  
 
 
 
 
 
      Number of cases reported 
 
 
 
      Number of inquests concluded 
 
(1) Please give details on a separate sheet of paper  
 
           of which:   Number of verdicts of treasure 
 
 
 
Number of exhumations ordered by the Coroner 
 
 

 
31 
Explanatory notes 
1. This is a National Statistics publication produced by the Ministry of 
Justice.  National Statistics are produced to high professional standards 
set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice.  They undergo regular 
quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs.  
They are produced free from any political interference. 
2. The data analysed in this publication are based on annual returns from 
H.M. Coroners.  Coroners are required under the provisions of Section 
28 of the Coroners Act 1988 to furnish to the Secretary of State returns 
in relation to inquests held and deaths inquired into by him (or her) in 
such form and containing such particulars as the Secretary of State may 
direct.  Thanks are due to coroners and their staff for their work in 
preparing these returns. 
Symbols and conventions 
The following symbols have been used throughout the tables in this bulletin: 
n/a    = Not applicable 
-   
= Nil 
..   
= Not available 
(R)  
= Revised data 
 
Definitions 
The following brief definitions are intended as a guide to the meaning of 
terms in this bulletin concerning coroners and their work; more detailed 
definitions will be found in the Coroners Act 1988 and the Treasure Act 
1996. 
Coroner; deaths reported 
In England and Wales, all violent and unnatural deaths, sudden deaths of 
unknown cause, and all deaths of persons in custody, are reported to 
coroners.  Coroners are appointed by local authorities; they must be 
barristers, solicitors or registered medical practitioners and must have at 
least five years’ standing in the relevant profession.  The relevant legislation 
and guidance is contained within the Coroners Act 1988 and the Coroners 
Rules 1984 (as amended). 
Non-inquest cases  
The coroner's investigation is concluded most often without an inquest being 
held.  The coroner will have satisfied himself or herself, by means of a post-
mortem examination or other investigation, on the physical cause of death, 
and that the death was not one on which he or she is required by law to hold 
an inquest. 
 

 
32 
Post mortem examinations 
A coroner may request that a post-mortem examination be conducted, 
whether or not an inquest is held, particularly if the cause of death is not 
clear.  In many cases a post-mortem examination is conducted in order to 
determine whether or not an inquest is necessary.  Other post-mortem 
examinations are held which are not ordered by the coroner.  Details of 
these are collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  See the 
further information section below for details of how to obtain statistics on this 
and other related topics. 
Inquests 
A coroner must hold an inquest if the body of a person (‘the deceased’) lies 
within his or her district* and if he or she has reasonable cause to suspect 
that the deceased: 
(a) died a violent or unnatural death; 
(b) died a sudden death the cause of which is unknown; or 
(c) died in prison or in such place or in such circumstances as to require an 
inquest under any other Act. 
[*The cause of death does not have to have arisen within the coroner’s district.] 
The holding of an inquest requires the coroner to determine: 
(a) who the deceased was; 
(b) how, when and where the deceased came by his or her death, and any 
further particulars necessary to enable the death to be registered. 
Verdicts are returned in nearly all coroners’ inquests.  The exceptions are 
those inquests adjourned by the coroner which he or she later decides not 
to resume, and are mainly inquests into deaths by unlawful killing and 
deaths by dangerous driving or careless driving when under the influence of 
alcohol or drugs, in which court proceedings have been instituted.  This 
avoids the need for two tribunals to consider the same evidence.  A 
“narrative verdict” is where the coroner makes a brief and factual statement 
at the conclusion of the inquest but does not return one of the suggested 
short-form verdicts. 
Juries 
Nearly all inquests are held by a coroner sitting alone, without a jury.  A jury 
must be summoned where the death occurred: 
(a) in prison, or in such a place or such circumstances as to require an 
inquest under another Act; 
(b) in police custody, or resulted from an injury caused by a police officer in 
the purported execution of his or her duty; 
(c) where there are certain statutory reporting obligations under the Health 
and Safety Act 1974 or any other Act, and in certain other circumstances, 
especially where there may be a continuing or recurring danger to the 
public. 

 
Treasure and treasure trove 
In addition to inquiring into certain deaths, coroners also have jurisdiction to 
inquire into any treasure which is found in their districts and to establish who 
were the finders.  With the commencement of the Treasure Act 1996 on 24 
September 1997 inquests into finds which previously might have been 
declared treasure trove are supplemented by those now conducted to 
determine whether finds made on or after that date are treasure. 
Registered deaths 
All deaths in England and Wales must be registered with the Registrar of 
Births and Deaths.  The term ‘registered deaths’ in this bulletin refers to 
deaths registered within a specific time period (in this case, calendar years). 
Statistics on registered deaths in England and Wales are published by the 
ONS.  No figure was available for the number of registered deaths in 2007 
at the time this bulletin was originally published.  Based on population 
projections published by the ONS in October 2007, an estimate of 498,900 
was derived.  Figures published by the ONS in July 2008 gave an actual 
figure of 504,100 registered deaths in England and Wales in 2007.  As a 
result, the number of deaths reported to coroners in 2007 as a proportion of 
the total number of registered deaths has been revised from 47.0 per cent to 
46.5 per cent. 
Revised data for 2007 in this re-issued bulletin 
At the time this bulletin was originally published, full data for 2007 were not 
available for the East Sussex and Plymouth and South West Devon 
districts.  Data were imputed for each of these jurisdictions based on figures 
reported in previous years. Actual data for 2007 have now been received for 
these two districts and are presented in the tables of this re-issued bulletin.  
The table below summarises the changes to some of the England and 
Wales totals as a result. 
Tabl
e
st 
, 
 
Revisions to statistics for previous years 
Several tables in this bulletin incorporate revisions to previous annual 
statistics.  These are described below. 
33 
The number of deaths reported to the coroner in the Newcastle upon Tyne 
district in the years 2000 to 2003 inclusive have been revised.  Figures 
published in previous bulletins included between 1400 and 1800 ‘No Further 

 
Action’ (NFA) cases per year.  These figures erroneously included a large 
number of non-NFA cases, and the number of NFA cases in each year 
should in fact have been about 250.  The table below summarises the 
effects of these revisions on the total number of deaths reported for the 
Newcastle upon Tyne district and for England and Wales as a whole.  
Figures for deaths reported where inquests were opened and post-mortem 
examinations were held are unaffected. 
Tabl
e
 
The number of deaths reported to the coroner for Gateshead and South 
Tyneside in 2006 has also been revised.  Some 406 NFA cases were 
missing from the total, which therefore under-recorded the total number of 
deaths reported.  The total number of deaths reported to the coroner in that 
year has been revised from 1,516 to 1,922.  The total number of deaths 
reported to all coroners in England and Wales in 2006 has been revised 
from 229,601 to 230,007 as a result.  Figures for deaths reported where 
inquests were opened and post-mortem examinations were held are 
unaffected. 
Previous figures showed that the number of Treasure Trove inquests (as 
distinct from Treasure Act 1996 inquests) was relatively small – at most a 
few dozen cases per year.  However, a review of data for recent years has 
found that in fact the figures have been over-reported.  Some inquests into 
treasure in recent years were mistakenly reported both as Treasure Act 
inquests and Treasure Trove inquests, when in fact they came purely under 
the auspices of the new Act.  The number of Treasure Trove inquests has 
therefore been revised downwards as a result.  Figures for finds and 
inquests under the Treasure Act 1996 are not affected.  Revisions have 
been made back to 1998. 
Further notes 
Prior to 1 June 2005, policy responsibility for H.M. Coroners lay with the 
Home Office, but on that date it passed to the Department for Constitutional 
Affairs as part of machinery of government changes following the 2005 
general election.  Responsibility now lies with the Ministry of Justice, which 
was created on 9 May 2007. 
Further information on deaths occurring annually in England and Wales is 
published by the Office for National Statistics in their Mortality Statistics 
34 

 
35 
series (DH1, DH2, etc.); these may be downloaded from their website at 
www.statistics.gov.uk. 
This bulletin was written and prepared by Richard Allen of the Economics 
and Statistics Division of the Ministry of Justice. 
Prior to the transfer of responsibility, the Home Office published statistical 
bulletins based on coroners’ annual returns, since 1980.  The last four 
bulletins published in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series were as 
follows: for year 2003, bulletin 9/04; for 2002, bulletin 6/03; for 2001, bulletin 
3/02; and for year 2000, bulletin 7/01.  These may be found at: 
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pubsstatistical.html. 
Contact points for further information 
Current and previous editions of this publication are available for download 
at www.justice.gov.uk/publications/coronersannual.htm. 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
Press Office 
Ministry of Justice 
9th Floor 
Selborne House 
54-60 Victoria Street 
London SW1E 6QW 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx / 8513 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to: 
Richard Allen 
Ministry of Justice 
5th Floor 
Selborne House 
54-60 Victoria Street 
London SW1E 6QW 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx 
General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be 
e-mailed to: xxx@xxx.xx 
Other National Statistics publications, and general information about the 
official statistics system of the UK, are available from www.statistics.gov.uk. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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