Ministers 'stacked' committee on crime payouts

Unions and Labour have accused the government of 'stacking' a parliamentary committee to ensure that controversial changes to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) were passed. The changes will restrict compensation to those who suffer serious injuries, shaving £50m off the annual £449m bill. In September, justice minister Helen Grant said she would reconsider the plans after protests by MPs, unions and victim support groups. However, when the Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee met last week the plans were presented unchanged. The committee approved them by nine votes to seven. Shadow justice minister Robert Flello claimed the government 'stacked' the committee by ensuring people on the government payroll - including four parliamentary private secretaries - turned up to vote. 'They had to pack the committee with effectively the payroll vote because they couldn't rely on ordinary backbenchers,' he said. The first draft order was introduced in September to the Delegated Legislation Committee but was attacked from all sides, including by former Conservative minister John Redwood who expressed his reluctance to approve a scheme that 'would cut back on payments to people who are vulnerable and have just been through a bad time in their lives for no good reason.' He was one of the MPs replaced on the committee. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'The vaporising of Tory opponents from the committee dealing with this issue is a mark of the brutality of this government who will not tolerate any dissent in their quest to claw back payments in these 'last resort' cases.' The changes to CICS were debated in the House of Commons on 7 November, where a Labour bid to block the cuts was defeated. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett, commenting after a Commons debate the union says 'was the first and likely final time' the issue will be debated by all MPs, said: 'Any government prepared to cut vital financial support from the innocent victims of violent crime, while at the same time handing out tax cuts to millionaires, has surely lost its moral compass.'

• Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, House of Commons Debate, Hansard, 7 November 2012. Usdaw news release. CWU news release. BBC News Online. Morning Star.