§ Mr. DarlingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will indicate, for(a) Scotland and (b) England and Wales: (i) the number of cases awaiting decisions by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and (ii) the average length of time taken to dispose of such cases; and if he has any proposals to reduce the time taken to dispose of such cases.
§ Mr. John PattenThere are about 74,000 applications awaiting resolution by the board. Information on the number of which came from Scotland and from England and Wales is not readily available. Figures published by the board in its annual reports show, however, that about 16 per cent. of all applications arise from incidents in Scotland. On that basis, it is estimated that about 12,000 of the 74,000 total are Scottish cases.
Information is not available on the average length of time taken to deal with applications to the board. As stated in the board's latest annual report (Cm. 42, paragraph 5) copies of which are in the Library, 70 per cent. of cases resolved in the financial year 1985–86 were decided within a year of application.
To help reduce the delays in dealing with applications, the Government have made available an extra £33 million for the criminal injuries compensation scheme for this financial year—an increase of about two thirds over the previous planned provision—and additional funding for later years. This has enabled the board to recruit additional staff for a new office in Glasgow. When fully operational, the Glasgow office will deal with all 719W applications from Scotland and a proportion of those from England and Wales, as well as helping the London office to reduce the arrears.