Agenda item

To receive the draft scope and project plan and a background presentation from the link officer.

The Committee considered the draft scope and project plan for the Scrutiny Review of Faith and Muslim Burial Services. The key aim of the review would be to understand the need and associated financial and operational requirements for the provision of faith burials, with a focus on burial chambers/vaults.

Members received a background presentation setting out the context of the review. The presentation included:

• Current lifespans of the Boroughs cemeteries. There was a closed Jewish and Muslim section within Oxbridge Cemetery and Two Muslim sections in Thornaby Cemetery, with a 10 year capacity. However, there were other sections within Thornaby that had not been identified for usage. Cemeteries also had areas allocated to the burial of cremated remains.
• Number of burials per year, from January to December, over a five year period. It was noted that there had been no burial requests from the Jewish community and officers suggested that members of the community were buried at cemeteries in Newcastle.
• Arrangements for burials and burial rituals. Once a death has been registered and a request had been made for the burial to take place on the same day, the team worked with the funeral director to ensure this happened and it was rare that a same day burial could not be carried out. If the request was made prior to lunch time on a Saturday the team would try to get it organised by 5pm and the burial to take place on a Sunday. The only days that a burial could not take place was Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year Day, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. A resident of any faith could request a same day burial; however, it was usually the Muslim community who requested this. It was noted that requests were received for later burial times, due to various reasons including to allow friends and family to travel from outside of the area or due to prayer times at the Mosque. It was difficult to grant these requests due to staffing and was reliant on staff agreeing to work overtime. There had been occasions where the request had been honoured. It was further noted that for some Muslim burials, the plot was filled by the family, and staff would ensure that the plot had been filled to the correct level once the family had left.
• Photographs of examples of burial vaults. Further details of the types of vaults available, operational considerations, and costs would be presented at future meetings.

Members questioned whether the vaults shown in the presentation were individual or family vaults. They were informed that all the vaults were for individual burial and Muslim burial plots were single plots. The vaults were larger than the current plot size and this would need to be considered further in the review, along with options for families buying more than one plot which was currently an option available for all faiths.

Burials outside of the Borough were discussed and it was noted that a person could be buried in any cemetery they wished to, however Local Authorities charged higher fees for non-residents. In Stockton-on-Tees Borough a higher charge would be incurred for a person who had not lived in the Borough for the five years prior to their death.

During the review Members would be gaining evidence from Local Authorities that had burial vaults and inviting both the local Inman’s and funeral directors to discuss their requirements. The Jewish community would be contacted to ensure their views were considered in the review. The Committee also believed a site visit to a cemetery that had burial vaults would be beneficial to the review, as well as receiving customer feedback from the service.

AGREED that the presentation be noted and the scope and project plan be approved, subject to the above comments.