§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many wrongfully convicted people, excluding motoring or summary offences, have been granted compensation since 1990; and what is the average time taken to process a claim. [91827]
§ Kate HoeyThere have been 154 successful applications for compensation for wrongful conviction or charge, under the statutory or the ex-gratia schemes, since 1990. (This figure excludes a large group of successful applications stemming from the quashing of a high number of convictions for drink-driving in Greater Manchester, between 1987 and 1989, but not any other motoring or summary offences.) The average time from the date of these applications to the decision to pay compensation is 210 days. Once such a decision has been taken, the time taken to make the final payment of compensation depends primarily on how quickly the successful applicant submits the full details of the claim (to allow the independent assessor to determine quantum) and accepts the subsequent award. The average time from the date of those successful applications since 1990 in respect of which a final payment has been made, to the final payment, is 895 days.
§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department following the Bentley case, what assessment he has made of the benefits of granting compensation where miscarriage of justice has been caused by judicial error. [91797]
§ Kate HoeyIt is my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's policy to pay compensation for a wrongful conviction caused by judicial error, under the ex-gratia arrangements announced by the then Home Secretary (Mr. Hurd) in his reply to Mr. Tim Smith on 29 November 1985,Official Report, columns 689–90, in cases where the judicial error is of an exceptional nature. The Divisional Court in the case of R v. Home Secretary ex parte Garner & Others held that it would be "a very rare case indeed" where the judicial misconduct is of the exceptional nature required to justify an ex-gratia payment.