Conclusions and recommendations
1. We
are concerned that, having withdrawn financial support for legal
assistance in making a claim for criminal injuries compensation,
steps were not taken to ensure that adequate alternative help
and support is available for all potential applicants. We call
on the Minister to undertake an urgent review of the capacity
of Victim Support Northern Ireland to provide assistance to all
applicants, and to take steps to ensure that applicants are fully
aware of the options open to them. (Paragraph 17)
2. We
appreciate that there have been some initial problems associated
with the introduction of the new Tariff Scheme. However, we recommend
that the Agency reviews its targets for processing claims and
sets more challenging, while still achievable, targets year on
year. (Paragraph 22)
3. We
commend the success of the Agency staff in reducing the outstanding
claims under the 1988 Order, and we urge them to continue their
efforts to deal with the remaining cases as quickly as possible.
(Paragraph 24)
4. We
recommend that the Minister undertake a review of the current
policy in relation to recovery of compensation, which restricts
the use of recovery powers to cases where offenders themselves
subsequently become entitled to compensation. (Paragraph 27)
5. We
are very concerned that flaws in the law governing compensation
have resulted in some child sexual abuse victims being unintentionally
debarred from claiming compensation. We urge the Minister to take
steps as a matter of urgency to remove this barrier. (Paragraph
30)
6. We
welcome the commitment by the Minister to give detailed consideration
to the recommendations in the Greer Report on scar viewing, in
consultation with the legal profession. (Paragraph 33)
7. We
were reassured both by the Agency and by the Minister that the
Agency has the capacity and the expertise to cope with a major
incident, through having a major incident team in place, and contingency
plans to draft in additional staff from other agencies if necessary.
(Paragraph 36)
8. We
recognise the difficulties and uncertainties facing the insurance
industry at the present time. However, in view of the improving
security situation in Northern Ireland, we welcome the assurance
from the Minister that, as part of the planned review of the Criminal
Damage Compensation Scheme, the issue of providing cover for terrorist
related incidents will again be explored with the insurance industry.
(Paragraph 38)
9. It
seems clear to us that blatant exploitation and abuse of the Terrorism
Act compensation schemes occurred on a large scale, particularly
over the two-year period following the introduction of the Terrorism
Act 2000. The Minister described this as a "tendency towards
something between fraud and opportunism". That the abuse
should have continued unchecked for a considerable period is a
very great cause for concern, but we are pleased to note that
it was eventually confronted head on and we congratulate the Compensation
Agency on tackling the issue in a vigorous and effective manner.
The introduction of a new robust claims procedure, and closer
liaison with the Army aided by an improving security situation
on the ground, has had a dramatic impact (Paragraph 43)
10. We
wanted to know the total actual loss to public funds over this
period but the Minister, while acknowledging that "it must
be quite considerable", was unable to provide an estimate.
Based on the estimated saving in the current year as a result
of the introduction of the revised procedures, we calculate that
the overall loss was probably in excess of £5 million over
the two year period. (Paragraph 44)
11. The
priority must remain to pay compensation to those entitled to
it but we recognise that schemes of this kind can and will continue
to be susceptible to fraud and abuse. We urge the Minister to
continue to review these schemes to ensure that funding goes to
those who deserve it and that any irregularities are detected
and dealt with at an early stage. (Paragraph 45)
12. On
reviewing the Agency's budget we were concerned to find that the
allocation for the current year was more than double the forecast
outturn across a range of headings leaving the Agency with a potential
surplus of just over £40 million. (Paragraph 46)
13. We
have been assured that the Department had been alerted to the
underspend and that this money is being used to meet funding pressures
elsewhere. However, we believe that with more accurate forecasting
by the Agency this additional money could have been available
for allocation at the outset of the year to other vital priority
programmes in Northern Ireland. We urge the Minister to take steps
to ensure much more realistic forecasting in the future. (Paragraph
48)
14. In
the past the Agency has identified 'achieving an improvement in
its level of user satisfaction' as one of its key performance
targets but dropped the target in 2003-04. We would urge the Agency
to restore that target accompanied, if necessary, by a more robust
methodology for distinguishing between 'genuine' dissatisfaction
and irritation at refusal of a claim. (Paragraph 51)
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