Don's Diary

Autumn 2000
Out of the blue I am asked if I would advise a parliamentary inquiry into cemeteries, held by the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, which has an interest in urban open spaces. I am to be drafted in to give everyone a crash course in terms, definitions and the law (on burial).

The big issues are: under-funded cemeteries; running out of burial space; the need to change the law with respect to possible re-use of graves and long-standing calls for an independent inspectorate for cemeteries. No one believes that we do not know such basic statistics such as how many cemeteries there are and how many burial authorities operate - might this be because of the lack of funding for cemetery research?

Winter 2000
Written submissions comprise a bumper post over Christmas and I spend days reviewing the evidence. The cemetery profession has been seeking policy leadership at government level for years: this opportunity to have a say has been grasped with fervour.

Questions are formulated and witnesses are lined up. We prepare briefs that summarise relevant technical issues and detail questions for the committee to ask. The government has yet to decide if it has a minister who is responsible for cemeteries.

January - week one
First meeting of the committee and the other adviser, David Lambert, and I attempt to present the issues facing the industry in ten minutes of distracted committee time. Witnesses file in and the committee fires questions at random.

January - week two
Speedy preparation of another brief for the next session of the committee. It begins to sink in that this is the first time there has been an inquiry into cemeteries for about 150 years.

January - week three
Another week of witnesses. The Guardian picks up the story about 75 per cent correctly -quite a good percentage for cemetery coverage. The committee goes out to look at some cemeteries and is getting the point of the issues, asking good questions and evidently listening to the answers.

Questions in preparation for the visit of the ministers - Paul Boateng and Hilary Armstrong. Impossible to anticipate. Will the government pick up on the need to be more proactive on cemetery policy? Will they fulfil a promise to complete further research, and how will they respond on the issue of a consultation document on the re-use of graves that, it is claimed, is too sensitive to issue?

January - week four
Committee is right on the ball. Transcript will never convey the occasional confused silences that follow some questions as the ministers try to dredge up appropriate answers.

For the first time, there is an admission that this issue should be considered at ministerial level, that there should be a degree of central leadership and there is a promise of wide-ranging research reviewing a number of cemetery issues - including re-use - by the end of the year. Will this mean more funding?

Julie Rugg is director of the Cemetery Research Group, University of York