HL Deb 20 December 1982 vol 437 cc897-8

5.52 p.m.

The Earl of Gowrie rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 25th November 1982 be approved.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, this draft order seeks to amend the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) (Northern Ireland) Order 1977. Its main purpose is very simple: to double to £10,000 and £1,000 respectively the maximum amounts of discretionary payments under criminal injuries legislation which can be paid to widows and children of those who die as a result of a criminal injury in Northern Ireland. A discretionary payment may be made by the Secretary of State in cases where compensation for pecuniary loss falls below statutory levels because of deductions to take account of any pension, gratuity or social security benefit paid by the Crown or the victim's employer as a result of his death. Thus, for example, if a widow's compensation were reduced to £4,000 because of collateral benefits amounting to £8,000, the award could be topped up to £10,000 by a discretionary payment of £6,000 under Article 3 of the draft order. This provision goes a considerable way in mitigating the effects of full deduction of collateral benefits and will be welcomed, I feel sure, by the House.

Shortly after discretionary payments were introduced in 1977 it was found that the provision was proving impracticable to operate in respect of joint claims by a widow and children. However, extra-statutory arrangements have been made to ensure that no one has suffered because of this. Now that this opportunity has arisen, the paragraph in the 1977 order which has been causing the difficulty has been amended by Article 3 of this order to make the law clear. Your Lordships will wish to note that the new discretionary payments limits will apply from 10th December 1981, which was when the Secretary of State announced his intention to present this legislation. Article 4 will give the Secretary of State power to vary these amounts in future by order subject to negative resolution.

Article 5 contains a further minor change to the 1977 order which will allow payment of compensation to any relative for earnings lost as a result of a victim's death. This would cover the case where a man had to stop working overtime to look after his children following his wife's death, and thereby suffered a loss in earnings.

This order was not published by the Government as a proposal because it is relatively straightforward and is expected to receive a general welcome. I commend it to the House and beg to move.

Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 25th November 1982 be approved.—(The Earl of Gowrie.)

Lord Underhill

My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for explaining the order. May I say on behalf of the Opposition that we fully endorse it? The noble Earl said that Article 5 contained a minor change, but I believe he will agree that its effect will be of considerable importance. We are glad that the change has been made.

Lord Hampton

My Lords, I, too, should like to thank the Minister for introducing the order, with which I entirely concur. I should like to put on record my appreciation of help from the noble Earl's office in clarifying some points for me.

Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge

My Lords, may I ask the noble Earl whether the authorities have now found a way round something which worried us in my day: that a paramilitary man who failed to carry out an order and was kneecapped by his leader was seen to be able to get compensation? I hope we have found a way round that problem.

The Earl of Gowrie

My Lords, we have not, exactly. It remains illegal to kneecap anybody. It is a criminal injury.

On Question, Motion agreed to.