Westminster All Party Parliamentary Group reforms
The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) is delighted to report that the All Party Parliamentary Funerals and Bereavement Group (APPG) has been reformed and will be chaired by Lorely Burt MP.
Following a general election all parliamentary groups have to be officially relisted in the All Party Group Register and officers elected. The NAFD was faced with three significant challenges, given that Bill Olner, chair of the APPG for the last eight years, stood down at the election and the Coalition Government created new requirements relating to All Party Group membership. The new Parliament also saw a huge influx of new members – more than in any Parliament since the Second World War.
However, these have been successfully met thanks to the election of Lorely Burt MP and the fact that a large number of new faces from all three of the main parties will serve as Group members.
Lorely Burt MP is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Solihull and served as an assistant prison governor and director of an independent management consultancy and training company prior to being elected an MP in 2005. Since then she has quickly become one of the most influential Lib Dem MPs, having been elected chair of the Lib Dem Parliamentary Party in 2007 and taken on the roles of Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland, Shadow Minister for Women and Equality and, most recently, Shadow Minister for Business Innovation and Skills.
Speaking after the inaugural election of officers, NAFD chief executive officer Alan Slater said: “It is a testament to the work of the All Party Parliamentary Funerals and Bereavement Group, the NAFD’s campaign to raise the profile of the funeral industry and the importance of the issues we are tackling that we have such a talented and hard-working MP as Lorely Burt as chair. I am sure we will be able to build on the excellent work carried out by Bill Olner and address the key issues we face, such as Social Fund funeral payments.”
Rosie Cooper MP (Labour Member of Parliament for West Lancashire), David Amess MP (Conservative Member for Southend West) and Mark Pawsey MP (Conservative Member for Rugby) will serve as vice chairs of the APPG and, together with Lorely Burt MP will provide the Group with real cross-party support to build consensus and a pragmatic approach to the issues affecting the funeral sector.
In addition to the four new officers, the APPG benefits from having a number of valuable new members. Helen Goodman MP, who was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the last government, has a good grasp of the problems relating to the Social Fund which will help to move the debate forward, while Willie McCrea MP from the Democratic Unionist Party will help link up the NAFD’s work in Northern Ireland.
The new All Party Parliamentary Funerals and Bereavement Group has decided to work on possible solutions to Social Fund funeral payments as a priority and has agreed to continue working on the issues surrounding retained ashes, the new system of death certification, coroners’ reforms, EU mercury emissions targets and memorial testing and safety.