David
Howarth: I thank the Minister very much for putting on the
record something that I think was mentioned only in passing when we
discussed new clause 10. Can she explain why the Secretary of State,
when discussing juryless inquests, insisted that the main reason for
them was, in his view, that the identities of agents and so on might
come out in an inquest in a way that would not happen in a
trial?
Maria
Eagle: I did not deal with that part of the Bill, so I do
not know precisely why the case that was discussed at length earlier in
the Bill’s passage is different. The Under-Secretary, my hon.
Friend the Member for
Lewisham, East (Bridget Prentice), might know more about that. Nor do I
know whether transferring the criminal procedures under discussion into
the coronial system would help. I do not believe that it would, because
anonymity has been available in inquests such as the de Menezes inquest
in which the coroner has thought that it would be of
use. 10.25
am The
Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put (Standing Order
No.
88). Adjourned
till this day at One
o’clock.
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