Do you know?

Charles 4 Comments
Charles

Crems

Wednesday’s Budget contained the above intriguing announcement. What’s going on here?

There may be a clue in the small print of the 2015 Budget (which we clean missed) when the Chancellor announced:

The Government will conduct a review into the size and provision of crematoria facilities to make sure they are fit for purpose and sensitive to the needs of all users and faiths. The Government will also review cremation legislation and coroner services.

“All users and faiths.” Is this something to do with provision for Hindus and Sikhs?

Or with the rising cost of funerals, much commented on by the media in the summer?

Who is being consulted?

What outcome is the Government seeking?

All info + suggestions gratefully received.

4 Comments

  1. Charles

    ‘Fit for purpose’ is begging the question, I think… what is this ‘purpose’ of crematoria facilities referred to? To provide an acceptable alternative to incineration with medical waste? To raise revenue? To provide comfort to bereaved people? This question needs answering in its own right before reviewing it, surely.

  2. Charles

    What is clear to me is that local authorities have been using their crematorium as a revenue generator, believing (correctly) that as a one-off purchase, local families wont complain. The privateers were and are always running them for profit – and will charge whatever they can get away with.

    Personally I favour the American model, funeral directors installing and operating their own. Holmes & Family would certainly do this if the law allowed. If we could, the UK funeral industry would be transformed – real choice would exist for the bereaved, and charges would plummet. A win-win as they say in politics?

  3. Charles

    Kathryn, thank you very very much for that link. Well worth having a look at the questionnaire, Jonathan. It doesn’t cover any of the stuff you’re interested in, nor anything I’m interested in. Fit for purpose? Yep, that is the question.

    David, I don’t think the law would in any way object to you opening your own crematory, but I suspect the good people of Fleet might want to have their two penn’orth and of course the planning people would be likely to give your app the dead bat.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>