A review of crematorium facilities has been launched by the Communities and Local Government Department (DCLG), following ‘unacceptable failures’ at Shrewsbury's Emstrey crematorium.
The report, published last month, found up to 60 families had been affected by the crematorium between 1996 and 2012, which failed to return babies ashes to bereaved families.
The Government is also consulting on changes to rules for cremations to tackle some of the issues raised in the report, as well as a review into the out-of-hours services provided by coroners.
Justice minister Caroline Dinenage said: ‘I am taking action to make sure that after a cremation infant ashes are returned to bereaved families.
‘Parents should not have to experience any additional grief like those affected by the issues in Emstrey have faced.’
The impact of changes into services for bereaved people will also be examined as part of the review such as the creation of a new national code of practice for coroners and people having providing greater access to documents and evidence.
