About InquestIQ
Accountability starts with transparency
What is InquestIQ?
InquestIQ is a public-interest platform that tracks Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports issued by coroners across England and Wales. When a coroner identifies circumstances that could lead to further deaths, they must issue a report under Regulation 28 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. The recipient — an NHS Trust, police force, government department, or other organisation — normally has 56 days to respond; the coroner can grant an extension.
Despite this legal obligation, there is no enforcement mechanism and no centralised system for tracking whether organisations respond, let alone whether they take action. InquestIQ exists to fill that gap.
How It Works
How numbers are counted
Figures describe the records currently held in InquestIQ. They can change as sources are added, replies are identified or labels are corrected. Public records, document extraction and organisation names can be incomplete. The original source remains important when checking an individual report.
PFD reports and published responses
- PFD reports
- Separate PFD reports in InquestIQ, each counted once. A report can concern several people or be addressed to several organisations. This is not a count of deaths, inquests or PDF files.
- With response
- Reports with at least one linked published response. The reply can come from any body, including a parent body or someone answering on another organisation's behalf. Several letters still count as one report with a response.
- No published response
- Reports for which no published response is linked in InquestIQ. A private reply, an unpublished reply or a reply not yet identified may exist.
- Response coverage
- Reports with a published response divided by total reports, multiplied by 100. For example, 3 out of 4 is 75%. Percentages are rounded. Coverage does not measure whether every recipient answered, replied on time or took adequate action.
Organisation figures
- Organisations
- Name entries in InquestIQ's recipient directory. Different spellings, historical names, individual sites and parent bodies may have separate entries. The total is not a verified count of distinct legal bodies.
- Reports per organisation
- Reports addressed to that name entry, counted once for that entry. A report addressed to several organisations appears in each organisation's row, so adding the rows would count some reports more than once.
- Combined views
- A combined view counts each report once across the selected names. Selecting names does not establish that they are the same organisation. Any published response to the report counts, regardless of sender.
- Directory results
- The organisation directory initially loads the 500 entries with most reports and displays up to 200 at a time. Searching a name searches all entries. Filtered totals describe the entries in the current result set, not the whole directory.
Search result counts
- Reports
- Matching report records, each counted once. A number beside Reports is not the number of times a word appears. The same report can also appear in response results.
- Responses
- Matching stored response entries associated with a report and recipient. One report can have several entries, and the same letter can be associated with several recipients. This is not a count of unique PDFs or answered reports.
- Recipients and entities
- Recipients are matching organisation name entries. Entities are matching extracted people, organisations, places or other named subjects. A mention does not establish responsibility or that someone received a report.
- Filters and previews
- The selected match type applies to report and response matches. Category, coroner area and date filters currently narrow report results only; responses, recipient names and entities are searched separately. The all-results view shows a preview; See all and Load more reveal more entries.
- Exact and related
- These labels describe why a result matched. Related matches can use word forms, possible spellings or listed related terms. Counts refer to stored searchable text; incomplete extraction or unindexed documents can leave original-source matches missing. Do not add the four section totals to estimate unique reports.
Themes and categories
- Theme links
- Assignments of reports to themes. A report can have several themes, so the number of links can exceed the number of reports. Tags include automated analysis and editorial changes, rather than new findings by a coroner.
- Pillars and theme pages
- A pillar groups related themes. Pillar cards count distinct reports across their themes, rather than adding the child counts. A theme page's main number counts the distinct reports in its displayed list. A report can appear under more than one pillar.
- Category charts
- Each category counts reports assigned to it. Reports can appear in several categories, so category bars should not be added to obtain a total of unique reports. Organisation profile charts use the categories recorded on their listed reports.
Dates and annual figures
- Reports per year
- Reports grouped by the report date recorded in InquestIQ, each counted once in its recorded year. Recent years may cover only part of the year. Dates and labels can still need checking against the original source.
- Response percentage by year
- On organisation charts, the percentage of that year's listed reports with a linked published response. It does not measure how many replies arrived during that year or within a deadline.
Map and coroner areas
- Reports and areas
- Reports with a recorded coroner area. Reports without an area are excluded. The headline area count counts recorded area names; spelling or historical variants can be grouped into the same map region.
- Map values
- The map groups reports by coroner jurisdiction, not where the death necessarily occurred. Category colours show the most common recorded category in that region. These figures are not population-adjusted death rates or a comparison of local safety.
Coroner figures
- Coroners and reports
- Coroner profiles with at least one attributed report in the directory. Profile totals count reports linked to that coroner in InquestIQ, not all inquests or deaths they have investigated. Name attribution can require editorial review.
- Themes and recent lists
- Recent reports are a preview of the profile's report total. A thematic summary's sample size is the number of reports used when it was generated, which can differ from the current total.
Mention and role figures
- Mentioning reports
- Distinct reports in the displayed list containing an extracted mention of this subject. Repeated mentions within the same report count once, rather than counting each occurrence of a name.
- Role breakdown
- On a subject's profile, each role counts distinct reports in that role, with possible overlap between roles. In search results, role figures count extracted entries for that role and can include several entries from one report. These are not counts of every word occurrence or proof of responsibility.
Court directory figures
- Venues and areas
- Venue entries in InquestIQ's court directory, grouped by their assigned coroner area. A jurisdiction can have several venues. Venues without an assigned area remain in the venue total but do not add to the area total. These are not counts of hearings or PFD reports.
Case law figures
- Judgments
- Case law records matching the current browse filters. Court cards and year headings count judgments in the loaded list, which may be smaller than the matching total. These figures are separate from PFD report counts and do not represent every inquest decision.
- Recently synced
- The Professional dashboard counts judgments last synced into InquestIQ during the stated period. This includes updates to existing records, not only newly published judgments. The dashboard's short list is a preview of that count.
Official non-response list figures
- Listed entries
- Entries imported from the Chief Coroner's published non-response lists. The same report or organisation can appear in more than one period, so this is not a count of distinct currently unanswered reports.
- Names, periods and repeat counts
- Named organisations counts different name strings in the loaded list, without merging variants. Reporting periods counts the list's period groups. A repeat figure counts listed entries for that name, not necessarily distinct reports or distinct periods.
- List date
- These lists describe the position at their source dates. A later published response may change a report's current status without removing its historical listing. These figures are separate from InquestIQ's current published-response coverage.
Saved report figures
- Saved
- Report entries saved in that list. A report counts once within a list but can be saved in several lists. List totals should not be added to estimate unique reports across your account.
Data Sources
- Courts and Tribunals Judiciary — Primary source for all published PFD reports and responses
- Ministry of Justice Coroner Statistics — Annual aggregate statistics by coroner area
- Chief Coroner Annual Reports — Response rates and the Badge of Dishonour list
Legal Basis
PFD reports are Crown copyright, published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which permits copying, adaptation, and commercial exploitation with attribution. Deceased persons are not data subjects under UK GDPR. The source publication policy determines redactions made by the Chief Coroner before publication.
The PFD System
The duty to issue PFD reports is established by Schedule 5, Paragraph 7 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, with operational detail in Regulations 28 and 29 of the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013. Recipients normally have 56 days to respond; extensions can be granted. There is no penalty for non-response — which is why platforms like InquestIQ are needed.
Attribution
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source data from the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (judiciary.uk). This platform is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice, or Chief Coroner.
Built by Standard Consulting & Training Ltd. Report content is sourced from judiciary.uk. For takedown requests or data concerns, please use the contact form below.
Get in touch
Takedown requests, data corrections, partnership enquiries, or anything else — drop us a line and we'll get back to you.