This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Support for victims of crime
12/01/2004
The Home Secretary's consultation paper on compensation
and support for victims of crime was welcomed today by
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson
The majority of the proposals in the consultation will
relate to England and Wales only. Ms Jamieson stressed
that the Executive has already made great progress in
helping victims of crime in Scotland through the Scottish
Strategy for Victims.
However, the Minister today confirmed that the Executive
would look at the merits of further measures - such as a
surcharge on offenders - as part of the ongoing reforms of
the justice system in Scotland.
Ms Jamieson said:
"We already have an excellent track record in providing
services for victims of crime in Scotland. We introduced
our Strategy for Victims in Scotland in 2001 with the clear
aim of providing a wide range of effective services for the
victims of crime. To date we have made very considerable
progress.
"We have also devoted substantial sums of money to
implementing the Strategy. In 2003-04, this totalled over
£6 million. In 2004-05 this figure will rise to almost £11
million.
"The paper launched today by the Home Office is about
better services for victims of crime in England and Wales.
Where the GB Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is
affected, there will be some impact in Scotland but this
will be minor. There will be no impact on the awards to
individual victims except in certain very unusual
cases.
"I support the principle underlying a number of
proposals in the consultation paper, namely that wherever
possible the perpetrator of the crime should be made to pay
towards compensating the victim.
"I will therefore look closely at the merits of imposing
a surcharge on offenders in Scotland - in light of the
forthcoming report by Sheriff Principal McInnes on summary
justice, and the work of the Sentencing Commission. I will
also seek to encourage our courts to make more use of
compensation orders.
"While the paper consults on where responsibility should
lie for compensation of workers injured in the course of
employment, I must stress that the Executive remains wholly
committed to the protection of workers in the workplace and
to legislation to protect, in particular, emergency
workers."
The proposals in the consultation paper that would apply
to Scotland are those affecting the GB Criminal Injuries
Compensation Scheme. These are:
• payment of compensation to those traumatised on
seeing people commit suicide on a railway line and those
injured accidentally in taking an exceptional risk in
dealing with crime. In 2002-03 out of a total of 4,912
successful cases handled by the CICS, 11 were in relation
to railway suicides.
• proposal to transfer responsibility for
compensating workers injured during the course of duty from
the CICS to their employer.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is a
Non-Departmental Public Body which administers the Criminal
Injuries Compensation Scheme throughout Scotland, England
and Wales.
CICA employs approximately 550 staff (around 400 in
Glasgow and the balance in London) to decide on
applications for compensation from victims of violent
crime. They deal with over 76,000 applications for
compensation each year. Expenditure on compensation
payments is over £200 million per year; approximately 10
per cent in Scotland.
In Scotland we have created a Victim Information and
Advice service, which is part of the Crown Office and
Procurator Fiscal Service; a Witness Support Service, to
help all those attending Sheriff and High Court trials;
pilot victim statements schemes, enabling victims to tell
the court the impact a crime has had on them; legislation
and guidance aimed at helping vulnerable witness, including
children, to give their best evidence in court; and a pilot
scheme providing support and information to victims of
youth crime.
The Scottish Strategy for Victims was launched in
January 2001. It was the first time a clear focus was
given to the needs of victims. The Strategy is owned by
all criminal justice agencies in Scotland and Victims
Support Scotland. The Victim Steering Group (VSG) oversees
progress on the Strategy's objectives.
The Consultation Paper is available on the Home Office
Website
www.homeoffice.gov.uk