§ Mr. McNamaraasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the total number of cases coming before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board for each month over the past three years to the nearest convenient month; and what are the longest, shortest and average times taken for applications to be dealt with.
§ Mr. MayhewThe number of applications received by the board in each month of the last three complete financial years is as follows:
1979–80 1980–81 1981–82* April 1,754 1,930 2,021 May 1,874 1,800 2,023 June 1,769 2,171 2,330 July 1,755 2,055 2,178 August 2,052 1,771 2,081 September 1,700 2,208 2,428 October 2,033 2,232 2,301 November 2,029 2,002 2,329 December 1,504 1,760 1,608 January 2,137 1,986 2,053 February 2,043 2,314 2,406 March 2,151 2,450 2,757 22,801 24,679 26,515 * Provisional figures.
Information about the time taken to resolve cases is not available precisely in the form requested, but the following indication of the time taken to deal with cases resolved in the last three years may be helpful.
284W
1979–80 per cent. 1980–81 per cent. 1981–82* per cent. 3 months or less 1.8 4.0 5.3
1979–80 per cent. 1980–81 per cent. 1981–82* per cent. Over 3 but not more than 6 months 22.7 30.0 31.6 Over 6 but not more than 9 months 31.6 26.4 29.9 Over 9 but not more than 12 months 18.7 15.9 15.1 Over 12 months 25.2 23.7 18.1 100 100 100 * Provisional figures.
The longest outstanding application is one received on 29 April 1968 from a very seriously injured man who received a first award within a month and has since received 12 further interim awards. The application is being reviewed annually in the applicant's interests because of the instability of his medical condition.