Hansard

Good morning, members. Amendment 2 ensures that the bill will apply to burial grounds that are no longer actively used for burial. That will mean, for example, that maintenance provisions and the provisions relating to restoration to use of lairs apply to such burial grounds. The bill requires every authority to provide an open burial ground. It simply defines a burial authority as a “person who owns a burial ground”. A local authority could argue that it is not a burial authority if it does not own any burial grounds. It is vital that burial continues to be an available option in every local authority area. Amendment 3 means that every local authority will be a burial authority and will be required to make burial an available option. As before, persons who are not a local authority will continue to be a burial authority if they own a burial ground. Amendment 4 removes section 2(1), as a consequence of other amendments. Amendment 5 changes the reference in section 2(2) from “burial authority” to “local authority”, to clarify that the duty to provide a burial ground is imposed on a local authority. Amendment 6 removes section 5, which had been included in the bill to restate section 20 of the Burial Grounds (Scotland) Act 1855. The effect of section 5 would have been to require burial authorities to provide a place for storage of bodies before burial. After the bill’s introduction, burial authorities informed officials that that has not been the practice for a number of years and that bodies are brought to the burial ground immediately before burial. Section 5 would place an unnecessary requirement on burial authorities to provide facilities that will not be needed. The removal of section 5 means that section 6(1)(b) is no longer required. Amendment 7 removes from the bill section 6(1)(b), which contains a reference to section 5. Amendments 16 to 20 relate to section 12. As introduced, section 12 would require a local authority, in its capacity as a burial authority, to sell a right to burial to anyone who is resident in the local authority area. After consultation of burial authorities, we have concluded that that might hamper a local authority’s ability to manage its burial capacity. The effect of amendments 16 to 20 will be to set out that a burial authority may sell a burial right on application. Amendment 21 sets out the circumstances in which a burial authority must sell a right of burial. The bill requires a burial authority that is a local authority to sell a lair to an applicant who is a resident in the local authority area when they apply, whether the lair is being purchased in advance of need, or is for immediate use. Some burial authorities have advised that they currently do not sell lairs in advance but sell them only at the time of need. Requiring those authorities to sell lairs on demand could create a shortage of available lairs in burial grounds when there is immediate need. Amendment 21 introduces a new section that sets out when a local authority is required to sell a right of burial in one of its lairs. The duty will apply in two cases: first, where the lair is for imminent use and the person who has died was resident in the local authority area immediately before his or her death, and secondly, where the applicant is resident in the local authority area and wishes to use the lair to bury the remains of a foetus resulting from a pregnancy loss, or the remains of a stillborn child. At all other times, burial authorities will have discretion about whether or not to sell a right of burial. Amendment 22 removes the requirement for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to renew its interest in a lair when that interest is about to expire. The right of burial in any lair that is sold after the bill comes into force must be renewed 25 years after it was sold, and thereafter every 10 years. The purpose of that is to ensure a current link between the right-holder and the burial authority. The bill allows a person to give up their right of burial if they choose to do so. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has an active and on-going interest in the lairs of war veterans and has indicated that it will never seek to relinquish its right of burial in a lair. I have listened to representations made by the CWGC on the issue, so amendment 22 ensures that that right will endure in perpetuity and so the bill will not place an unnecessary burden on the commission. Amendment 24 means that lairs that are sold to the commission after the bill comes into force will not need to be renewed. That will provide useful administrative savings for the commission and burial authorities. Amendment 23 is a minor change to section 13(2) to clarify that what may be extended by a right-holder is the period for which the right subsists, rather than the right itself. Amendment 25 places on burial authorities a duty to give notice to a right-holder before expiry of that right. That notice will inform the right-holder that he or she may extend the right, and will indicate what will happen if the right-holder chooses not to extend the right or if an application to extend the right is refused. That notice must be given at least three months before the right is due to expire. Amendment 56 removes the definition of “right-holder” from section 24, because it is now defined elsewhere in the bill. Amendment 134 makes a minor adjustment to section 75 and ensures that references to “right-holder” are defined as mentioned in subsection (3) of the new section that is inserted by amendment 25. Amendment 139 changes a textual reference to another section of the bill, and amendment 140 ensures that any reference to burial or reburial in the bill also includes “references to burial (or reburial) on or above the ground.” That will have the effect of including burial methods such as tombs and mausoleums in the bill. I move amendment 2. Amendment 2 agreed to. Section 1, as amended, agreed to. After section 1 Amendment 3 moved—Maureen Watt—and agreed to. Section 2—Provision of burial grounds Amendments 4 and 5 moved—Maureen Watt—and agreed to. Section 2, as amended, agreed to. Sections 3 and 4 agreed to. Section 5—Places to keep bodies before burial Amendment 6 moved—Maureen Watt—and agreed to. Section 6—Management of burial grounds Amendment 7 moved—Maureen Watt—and agreed to. Section 6, as amended, agreed to. Section 7 agreed to. Section 8—Application to carry out burial