Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury baby ashes fight to be discussed in the Commons

Shrewsbury's baby ashes scandal will be discussed in the House of Commons next week during a Parliamentary debate.

Published

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski will raise the matter on Wednesday.

He is confident that Justice Minister Caroline Dinenage will act on her meeting yesterday with the parents whose children's remains were never returned to them.

She told them that she will do all she can to ensure the scandal is not repeated.

Consultation about baby cremations could be held across England and Wales with a view to changing legislation following the meeting, according to campaigners.

"It is an hour-long debate and could not be more perfectly timed following on from the meeting they had yesterday with the Justice Minister," said Mr Kawczynski.

"It will also give other MPs whose constituents have been affected by the issue the opportunity to voice their concerns. I know there have been several similar incidents around the country which have come to light following the news of the inquiry in to Emstrey Crematorium.

"Getting a debate in the House of Commons is a little like a lottery, so to get a hearing as close to the meeting as we did is great. It will still be fresh in people's minds and deserves to be heard properly. It will give the minister the opportunity to explain the findings of the inquiry.

"This is one of the most emotive issues I have had to deal with. Those families have been through the tragedy of losing a child and now this whole inquiry has been very difficult for them. They need closure and I am hoping they get that soon. There needs to be tighter scrutiny to ensure that this doesn't happen again"

The Shropshire Council-commissioned report, which was published last month, said poor training and out-of-date equipment were mainly to blame.

About 60 families are believed to have been affected by failures at Shrewsbury's Emstrey crematorium between 1996 and 2012.

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