Nia Griffith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nia Griffith on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is his policy to allow members of the public to make an application for a cremation in Welsh.

Caroline Dinenage

The Cremation (England and Wales) Regulations 2008 require that, in order for a cremation to proceed, the crematorium medical referee must scrutinise the application and associated medical or coroner forms before authorising a cremation.

An application made in Wales may be for a cremation in Wales or a cremation in England. A medical referee in Wales may not be a Welsh speaker, and a medical referee in England will almost certainly not be a Welsh speaker.

Applications in Wales must therefore be made in English, to make sure that the medical referee can understand and authorise the cremation in a timely manner wherever the cremation is to take place.