§ Mr. Geoffrey RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will introduce provisions, in respect of compensating victims of violent crime, for individual assessment of loss of earnings and other financial loss.
§ Mr. MacleanThe recent White Paper, "Compensating Victims of Violent Crime: Changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme", Cm 2434, explained the Government's intention to establish a new tariff scheme, which will come into force on 1 April 1994. Under that scheme, compensation payments to blameless victims of violent crime will be made from a tariff of awards for injuries of comparable severity. The tariff levels have been set by reference to awards made in the recent past by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board which, because they are based on common law damages, include elements for loss of earnings and the other heads of damage. To that extent, the awards will contain an element of loss of earnings, but there will be no separate assessment.
The new scheme will be more straightforward and claimants should get their compensation more quickly and with less fuss. When the tariff scheme is introduced, the majority of claimants should get as much as or more than they could have expected under the current arrangements.