HC Deb 08 June 1993 vol 226 c182W
Mr. Milburn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what plans he has to change(a) the £1,000 lower limit, (b) the treatment of compensation payments as capital for benefit purposes and (c) the conduct and character of the victim rule as part of his review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme;

(2) when he expects to publish his review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme.

Mr. Maclean

The criminal injuries compensation scheme is not being reviewed. In his reply to a question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Westminster, North (Sir J. Wheeler) on 23 November 1992,Official Report, column 457, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) announced that the Government intended to replace the present criminal injuries compensation scheme with a tariff scheme next year to provide a more straightforward service to claimants. We intend to publish details of the new scheme, including decisions on a lower limit and on the relevance of the conduct and character of the victim, in a White Paper later this summer.

The treatment of compensation payments as capital for benefit purposes is a matter for the Secretary of State for Social Security. I understand that he has no plans to change the present arrangements.

Mr. Milburn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many payments of between £1,000 and £1,500 were awarded under the criminal injuries compensation scheme in each of the last two years; and if he will provide a regional breakdown of such payments;

(2) how many payments of between £850 and £1,000 were made under the criminal injuries compensation scheme in each of the five years prior to the raising of the lower limit to £1,000; and if he will provide a regional breakdown of such payments.

Mr. Maclean

Details of awards made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board within various bands are given in the board's published annual reports. Copies are held in the Library.

The number of awards between £850 and £1,000, and between £1,000 and £1,500, is not given, but the table summarises the most recent information about the nearest equivalent bands. Information about the regional breakdown of awards is not collected centrally.