Funeral Industry News

  • Funeral Director Code of Practice: approved by The Scottish Parliament

    20th February 2024 by

    The Scottish Government is pleased to confirm that the draft Funeral Director Code of Practice (‘the Code’) received parliamentary approval on 31 January 2024. Please see the Scottish Government website for the approved Code. The Minister for Public Health & Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP, has written to funeral directors in Scotland to inform them...

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  • Public consultations: Reminder

    14th November 2023 by

    The Scottish Government launched a collection of public consultations on 25 August 2023 on different aspects of regulation of the funeral sector: Alkaline hydrolysis (‘water cremation’) Burial Inspection of burial, cremation and funeral directors Licensing for funeral directors. The consultations are still available on the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space. The consultations will close on...

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  • Public Consultation Events – Call for questions

    17th October 2023 by

    In our previous blog post, we advertised two public consultation events that the Scottish Government is hosting to give individuals the chance to discuss the collection of consultations on funeral sector regulation. We are now calling for your questions ahead of the events. We will do our best to answer these on the day alongside more general...

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  • Consultation on Crematoria Guidance PGN (5/12)

    11th October 2023 by

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK Government has launched a consultation on the review of the Crematoria Guidance PGN (5/12). This consultation seeks views on the proposed new guidance that will replace the existing crematoria guidance PG5/2(12). This consultation will be of interest to regulatory bodies, individual operators, trade...

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  • Public Consultation Events: Regulations for the Funeral Sector

    3rd October 2023 by

    The Scottish Government is running two online consultation engagement events to discuss the collection of consultations on funeral sector regulation. The events are open to members of the public and of the funeral sector. The events will take place on 24 October 2023 (12:00 – 13:00) and 2 November 2023 (18:30 – 19:30) and will...

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  • Public consultations launched: views sought on new regulations for the funeral sector in Scotland

    25th August 2023 by

    The Scottish Government has today launched a collection of public consultations on different aspects of regulation of the funeral sector in Scotland. The proposed regulations in the consultations are to be made under the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016. The collection of four consultations cover regulations on the following topics: Alkaline hydrolysis (‘water cremation’)...

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  • Body Donation In Scotland: Understanding What Happens After A Person Dies

    19th July 2023 by

    Body donor programmes make an important contribution to medical education activities across Scotland. This NHS Education for Scotland video provides guidance for health and social care staff in Scotland on what to do after the death of someone who wished to donate their body to medical science. It’s of particular relevance to doctors, but may...

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  • Repatriation: Possible Fatal Accident Inquiry

    13th June 2023 by

    Where someone who is ordinarily resident in Scotland dies abroad and their body is to be repatriated to Scotland the death must be registered first in the country where it occurred.  The Death Certification Review Service (DCRS) deals with applications for repatriation. DCRS will review the paperwork from the country where the death occurred, the...

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  • Funeral Directors: Refrigeration Survey

    12th April 2023 by

    The Scottish Government is seeking to understand how many funeral directors in Scotland have, or have access to, refrigeration or cold room storage for the storage of the deceased. This information will help inform the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) that is required for the Scottish Government to implement the Funeral Director: Code of...

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  • Repatriation – Quick Guide Form for Funeral Directors

    26th January 2023 by

    The Death Certification Review Service (DCRS) has produced a helpful repatriation quick guide form for funeral directors. This displays the sections of the statutory forms which are often completed incorrectly and guides the funeral director on how to complete these sections. This is a one page printable document which is hoped will be a useful...

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