§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to(a) review the working of the Criminal Injuries Compensation (Overseas Scheme) as it applies to his Department and (b) to extend the Scheme to include all MOD civilians. [83520]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Criminal Injuries Compensation (Overseas) (CIC(O)) Scheme is designed to give members of the armed forces and their dependants who are deployed overseas comparable levels of compensation to those that would have been awarded by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) had the incident occurred in Great Britain. The operation of the CIC(O) Scheme is, therefore, analogous to that of the CICA.
The CICA has introduced a new scheme for applications received on or after 1 April 2001. The CIC(O) Scheme rules have been reviewed and changes made to reflect the changes to the CICA scheme.
There are no plans to extend the CIC(O) Scheme to include MOD civilians, as they are already covered by the provisions of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS). Claims under this scheme are assessed by the PCSPS Medical Advisers by analogy to the CICA Scheme.
§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many claims have been made by(a) members of HM forces, (b) dependants and (c) civilian MOD employees under the Criminal Injuries Compensation (Overseas) Scheme in each year since 1997. [83521]
§ Dr. MoonieThe number of claims made by members of HM forces and their accompanying eligible dependants under the Criminal Injuries Compensation (Overseas) Scheme in the financial years 1997–98 to 2001–02 is as follows:
Financial year Number of claims 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 66 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 69 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 74 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 70 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 47 The records of claims made by members of HM forces are not maintained separately from those made by their 475W dependants. Separate figures for each category could be produced only at disproportionate cost by individually examining each case record.
Civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence are not eligible to claim under the scheme. They are, however, covered in similar terms by the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS), as are locally employed civilians (LECs).
The number of claims under this provision is as follows:
Financial year Number of claims 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 0 1 April 1998 to 31 March 1999 2 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 3 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 1 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002 3