Part 2: Courts, tribunals and coroners Chapter 4: Coroners Section 42: Suspension of requirement for jury at inquest where coronavirus suspected
This section is to continue (on a temporary basis) the provision first enacted in section 30 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 that disapplies the requirement for a coroner to conduct an inquest with a jury in a case where a death is suspected to have been caused by COVID-19, which is a notifiable disease.
	Subsection (1) amends Section 7(2)(c) of the 2009 Act which requires a coroner to hold an inquest with a jury where the coroner has reason to suspect that the death was caused by a notifiable disease. This subsection inserts a new subsection (5) into the 2009 Act to disapply this requirement in relation to COVID-19.
	Subsection (2) clarifies that subsection (1) affects any inquest opened on or after the day on which the section comes into force, regardless of the date of death.
	Subsection (3) provides for the new subsection (5) in section 7 of the 2009 Act to expire after a period of two years. The two-year period begins on the day this section comes into force.
	Subsection (4) requires the Lord Chancellor to assess the likely effects on the coronial system of the provision expiring.
	Subsections (5) and (6) allow the Lord Chancellor, having carried out that assessment, to make regulations to prevent the new subsection (5) in section 7 of the 2009 Act from expiring. Subsection (6)(b) allows for the new expiry date to be specified in the regulations, and subsection (7) requires that the date may be no later than two years after the previous expiry day.
	Subsection (8) requires that regulations made under subsection (6) are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, as set out in section 45(3) of the 2009 Act.
	Subsection (9) requires that subsection (2) expires when the new subsection (5) expires, meaning that it cannot be renewed again by subsection (6).
	Subsection (10) clarifies terms used in the new subsection (5).
	Subsection (11) omits section 30 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. Subsection (12) provides that subsection (11) does not affect any inquest opened while section 30 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 was still in force.