§ Andrew MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will propose amendments to the criminal injuries compensation legislation in order to entitle victims of child abuse to benefit from the funds in those cases where the victim(a) lived with abuser and (b) the abuser was a close relative. [61922]
§ Hilary Benn[holding answer 18 June 2002]We conducted a thorough review of the criminal injuries compensation scheme following a public consultation exercise launched in 1999, and made a number of 183W significant changes to the scheme with effect from 1 April 2001. As part of that exercise we considered whether to change the rule which precludes payment of compensation for intra-family sexual abuse which occurred before 1 October 1979. However, we decided for a number of reasons that the rule should not be changed.