Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (Hansard, 13 March 2000)

§ Lord Bassam of Brighton

Under the original criminal injuries compensation scheme established in August 1964, compensation was assessed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB) on the basis of common law damages. That scheme was superseded from 1 April 1996 by a tariff-based scheme administered by two new bodies, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel (CICAP). The board was then left with the residual task of dealing with all outstanding claims lodged before 1 April 1996. There were some 110,000 such cases.

By the end of the current financial year, the board will have resolved over 100,000 of those cases and its work will largely be done. The board will accordingly be wound up on 31 March 2000. Any residual old scheme cases still outstanding at that time will be transferred for resolution by legally qualified members of CICAP in accordance with the transitional provisions of the 1996 scheme. Present estimates are that around 6,000 cases will be transferred. The panel will be set the target of clearing them within two years. The panel is being strengthened considerably to ensure that it can cope with this additional workload without prejudicing its capacity to deal with appeals made under the 1996 scheme.

I am sure that Ministers in previous administrations would wish to join me in extending a sincere vote of thanks to all board members, past and present, for the care and dedication with which they have dealt with claims over the past 35 years.