§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if Her Majesty's Government have any plans to put the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board on a statutory basis; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorAs we announced in another place on 14 December 1983, at column 308, we hope to introduce legislation for this purpose in the course of the present Parliament.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board will reconsider a case following the death of a person who had a successful claim accepted.
§ Mr. MellorThe conditions of entitlement to compensation where the victim has died in consequence of the injury are set out in paragraph 15 of the scheme. This indicates that applications may be made under this paragraph where the victim has died of injuries even if an award was made during the victim's lifetime. Such cases are subject to the conditions set out in paragraph 13 for the reopening of cases, and compensation payable to the applicant is reduced by the amount paid to the victim.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cases have been dealt with by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board following the death of a person;
(2) how many claims have been made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board following the death of a person.
§ Mr. MellorStatistics of applications relating to the death of a person have been kept only since April 1980. Between then and 31 March 1983, 1,034 such applications were received. Separate statistics of resolved cases in this category are not maintained.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the working of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary are in general satisfied with the operation of the scheme. All aspects of the scheme will, however, be reviewed in advance of legislation.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to widen the scope of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
§ Mr. MellorMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary have no present plans to do so.
325W
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average waiting time for applications to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board to be processed.
§ Mr. MellorApplications to the board are registered and enquiries instituted on receipt of the completed application form. Figures relating to the time taken to resolve applications in 1982–83 are shown at paragraph 5 on page 4 of the board's nineteenth annual report (Cmnd. 9093).
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the longest outstanding application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board at the latest date.
§ Mr. MellorThe oldest unresolved case dates from 1968: regular interim awards have been paid, but the applicant's medical condition has not yet stabilised sufficiently for a final award to be made.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board have been made; how many were successful and how many unsuccessful; and how many are still outstanding at the latest date.
§ Mr. MellorThe number of applications received from the inception of the scheme on 1 August 1964 up to 31 March 1983 was 263,302. Of these, 189,422 resulted in awards and 35,226 in no award; 6,570 were abandoned. The number of cases unresolved on 29 February 1984 was about 34,000.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many claims have been made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board annually to the latest available date.
§ Mr. MellorIn respect of the first eight months of the scheme's operation, and subsequent financial years, the information requested is as follows:
Period Applications received 1 August 1964— 31 March 1965 554 1965–66 2,452 1966–67 3,312 1967–68 5,316 1968–69 6,437 1969–70 7,247 1970–71 7,419 1971–72 9,886 1972–73 10,926 1973–74 12,215 1974–75 14,227 1975–76 16,690 1976–77 20,400 1977–78 20,826 1978–79 21,960 1979–80 22,801 1980–81 24,679 1981–82 26,515 1982–83 29,440
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of for the Home Department what is the total amount of payment made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation available date.
§ Mr. MellorThe total amount paid in compensation up to 31 March 1983 was £152,192,852.
326W
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the highest amount paid by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board to the latest available date.
§ Mr. MellorThe highest award made to date amounted to £136,500.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what complaints he has received concerning the working of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
§ Mr. MellorDuring the past year two hon. Members and two organisations questioned the raising of the general lower limit for compensation under the scheme to £400 from 1 February 1983; two individual complaints were received through hon. Members about lack of retrospection on the introduction of the revised scheme in 1979, one about the provision in the scheme requiring deduction of benefits payable under employers' insurance arrangements from awards paid to dependants in fatal cases, and one about the inability of the board to consider an application for a hearing after acceptance of an award made at the single member stage.
In addition, several hon. Members inquired about delays in particular cases. We have received about ten direct complaints from members of the public about particular aspects of the scheme or about delay in settling their applications.
§ Mr. Parryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many claims have been made to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (a) in Liverpool and (b) on Merseyside at the latest date;
(2) how many claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board were successful; how many were unsuccessful; and how many are pending in Liverpool and Merseyside, respectively, at the latest date;
(3) what is the total amount of compensation paid by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (a) in Liverpool and (b) on Merseyside at the latest date;
(4) what is the highest amount of compensation paid by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (a) in Liverpool and (b) on Merseyside at the latest date.
§ Mr. MellorThis information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.