§ Sir Ivan LawrenceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to appoint the members of the independent panel which will consider appeals under the revised arrangements for paying criminal injuries compensation—the tariff scheme—which come into force on 1 April.
§ Mr. HowardThe Secretary of State for Scotland and I have appointed Mr. Michael Lewer QC, an experienced member of the present Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, to be the first chairman of the new appeals panel. Our aim now is to appoint a nucleus of about a dozen panel members within the next few weeks to deal with any early appeals under the new scheme. We would like some of those posts to be filled by other members of the present board. The full complement of appeals panel members will be appointed over the coming months as the number of appeals builds up.