Eighth Report
Instruments Drawn to the
Special Attention of the House
The Committee has considered the following instrument
and has determined that the special attention of the House should
be drawn to it on the grounds specified.
A. Draft Criminal Injuries
Compensation Scheme 2012
Date laid: 2 July
Parliamentary Procedure: affirmative
SUMMARY: THE CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION SCHEME
MAKES PAYMENTS TO ELIGIBLE VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME ACCORDING
TO A PUBLISHED TARIFF FOR EACH DESCRIPTION OF INJURY. DEMAND FOR
COMPENSATION PAYMENTS CURRENTLY OUTSTRIPS THE SCHEME'S ALLOCATED
BUDGET OF £200M PER YEAR. THE EFFECT OF THE 2012 SCHEME IS
TO REVISE THE TERMS OF THE CURRENT SCHEME TO REDUCE EXPENDITURE
AND FOCUS LIMITED RESOURCES ON THE MOST SERIOUSLY INJURED. IT
DOES THIS BY REDUCING ELIGIBILITY, REMOVING THE LOWEST FIVE TARIFF
BANDS (RELATING TO LESS SERIOUS INJURIES) AND REVISING OTHER ASPECTS
OF THE WAY COMPENSATION UNDER THE SCHEME IS CALCULATED, FOR EXAMPLE
DEPENDENCY PAYMENTS AND LOSS OF EARNINGS. THE 2012 SCHEME IS INTENDED
TO COME INTO FORCE ON 30 SEPTEMBER 2012 OR TWO WEEKS AFTER THE
DAY ON WHICH IT IS MADE, WHICHEVER IS THE LATER. WE PUBLISH ON
OUR WEBSITE EVIDENCE RECEIVED FROM THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
AND FROM THE UNION OF SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED WORKERS ("USDAW")
EXPRESSING CONCERN THAT THE REDUCTION IN THE SCHEME'S COVERAGE
WILL LEAVE POSTMEN AND SHOP WORKERS WITHOUT COMPENSATION IN A
WIDE RANGE OF SITUATIONS.
This instrument is drawn to the special attention
of the House on the grounds that it gives rise to issues of public
policy likely to be of interest to the House.
1. This Scheme has been laid by the Ministry
of Justice accompanied by an Explanatory Memorandum (EM) and an
Impact Assessment (IA).
2. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
makes payments to eligible victims of violent crime. The revisions
proposed in this instrument aim to reduce the future cost of the
Scheme whilst ensuring that compensation is still available for
those applicants most seriously affected by their injuries.
3. The current Scheme, last revised in 2008,
makes payments based on a tariff setting out the amount of compensation
for each description of injury. It also permits payments for loss
of earnings, special expenses and fatal cases. Applications are
decided, and payments are made, by the Criminal Injuries Compensation
Authority. The current Scheme also provides applicants with a
right to a review of the determination of their application and
a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
4. Demand for compensation payments currently
outstrips the Scheme's allocated budget of £200m per year.
Applications outstanding under the current and previous statutory
Schemes have reached an estimated total value of £260m. The
effect of the 2012 Scheme is to revise the scheme in order to
focus limited resources on the most seriously injured. It does
this in a number of ways:
· First, it tightens eligibility to apply
for compensation, for example, by introducing residency criteria
for applicants who are not in certain exempted categories (including
British citizens, members of the armed forces and EU/EEA nationals
and their families). In addition those with an unspent criminal
record attracting a custodial or community sentence will no longer
be eligible to apply.
· Second, it reduces the range of injuries
for which compensation can be claimed. Under the 2008 Scheme the
tariff is made up of 25 bands of compensation. The 2012 Scheme
removes the lowest five tariff bands, relating to less serious
injuries, and reduces the amount of compensation in some of the
remaining bands (bands 6-12 of the current Scheme tariff). Tariff
payments for the most seriously injured, and for sexual assaults
and physical abuse, are preserved at the same level as under the
2008 Scheme.
· Third, the 2012 Scheme also makes changes
to the way in which loss of earnings and dependency payments are
calculated. Changes have also been made to the time limits for
review and to the requirements on production of evidence in support
of an application.
5. The Government anticipate that the 2012 Scheme
will lead to savings of around £50m per year. These savings
will be directed toward paying claims outstanding under the current
and previous Schemes as they are determined until 2014, when the
annual budget will be reduced.
6. We received evidence from the Communication
Workers Union and from the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied
Workers ("USDAW") expressing concern that the reduction
in the scheme's coverage will leave postmen and shop workers without
compensation in a wide range of situations and that payments for
loss of earnings for those most seriously injured, who require
more than 28 weeks off work, will be cut from their average earnings
to the level of Statutory Sick Pay. This evidence is published
on the Committee's website[1].
Other Instruments of Interest
Draft Child Support Maintenance Calculation
Regulations 2012
Draft Child Support Maintenance (Changes to
Basic Rate Calculation and Minimum Amount of Liability) Regulations
2012
7. These instruments (together with provisions
of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008) make changes
intended to simplify the statutory child support scheme, improve
service to customers, reduce costs to the taxpayer and increase
the flow of child maintenance payments to children. They will
apply to applications for child maintenance made under the new
scheme after amendments made by the 2008 Act come into force.
The majority of maintenance calculations in the new scheme will
be based on gross weekly income information provided by Her Majesty's
Revenue and Customs via an automated system which should reduce
delays in obtaining information. The range of allowances and deductions
considered in the calculation is also being amended. For example,
Tax Credits awarded to a non-resident parent's second household
will no longer be considered as income for these purposes; and
unearned income from savings, property or investments will now
be included. The calculation also reduces the percentage by which
a non-resident parent's gross income is reduced to take account
of relevant other children, so that that income is shared in a
fairer way between children living with and those living apart
from a parent. The Regulations also revise the weekly default
maintenance rates (imposed on a non-resident parent when there
is insufficient information regarding their circumstances) to
£39 for one child, £51 for two children and £64
for three or more children.
Draft Electricity and Gas (Smart Meters Licensable
Activity) Order 2012
8. The Government are committed to the roll-out
of smart meters, which provide consumers with real-time information
on their energy consumption, enabling them to manage their energy
use, save money and reduce emissions. The Government's programme
aims to support the roll-out of some 53 million gas and electricity
meters to domestic properties and to medium-sized non-domestic
sites in Great Britain, affecting some 30 million premises, by
the end of 2019.
9. A new body, the Data and Communications Company
("the DCC"), will organise the communications and data
transfer and management required to support smart metering. The
DCC will be a national monopoly provider of services and will
be regulated by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem).
This draft Order, laid by the Department for Energy and Climate
Change (DECC), provides the basis to regulate the DCC by introducing
a new smart metering licensable activity into the Electricity
Act 1989 and the Gas Act 1986, which it will be unlawful to undertake
without holding a licence.
10. In the Explanatory Memorandum, DECC states
that this is the first of a number of measures to be taken to
provide the regulatory framework for the roll-out of smart meters,
including measures under the Energy Act 2008, which allows for
the amendment of electricity and gas licences. DECC intends to
lay a further statutory instrument setting out the licence application
process, to support the competitive process for appointing the
DCC, which will then be granted a licence to carry out the new
licensable activities.
Draft Late Night Levy (Application and Administration)
Regulations 2012
11. These Regulations set out the detail for
the introduction and administration of the late night levy which
was included in Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the Police Reform and Social
Responsibility Act 2011. A local authority may introduce the levy
if it considers it desirable to raise revenue in relation to the
costs of policing crime and disorder connected to the supply of
alcohol in its area between midnight and 6am. The holder of a
premises licence or club premises certificate which authorises
the supply of alcohol during those hours will be required to pay
a fixed sum, set out in the Schedule to the Regulations, according
to its rateable value. A similar scheme - Alcohol Disorder Zones
(ADZs) - was introduced in 2008 but no ADZs were set up as local
authorities found the process too complex. The Home Office states
that the late night levy is designed to avoid the problems experienced
with ADZs by applying the levy to the whole of a licensing authority's
area and by being much simpler to adopt: it will not require 'action
plans' from premises and it will not have such a high evidential
hurdle. The Impact Assessment estimates that 94 licensing authorities
would each raise enough from the levy to make collecting it worthwhile
and it is understood that a number of licensing authorities have
indicated that they will commence formal consultation with a view
to introducing a levy in their area later in the year.
Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Surcharge) Order
2012 (SI 2012/1696)
12. Section 161A of the Criminal Justice Act
2003 allows for a surcharge to be collected in all cases where
a court deals with a person, subject to exceptions specified in
secondary legislation. The victim surcharge was implemented in
April 2007 with the intention that offenders should make a contribution
to the cost of services for victims. For administrative reasons,
in 2007 the surcharge was payable only where an offender was fined
and the charge was imposed at a flat rate of £15. This current
Order extends the range of offences for which the surcharge would
be payable. A substantial upgrade to the computer system used
by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service now means that more
sophisticated deductions are possible. Under the 2012 Order the
surcharge will be set at a flat rate of £15 for a conditional
discharge; at 10% of the value of a fine, subject to a minimum
£20 and a maximum of £120; at a flat rate of £60
for a community sentence; and at between £80 and £120
for an immediate or suspended sentence of imprisonment depending
on the length of the sentence imposed. This revised scheme is
expected to raise about £20m per year which will be used
to reduce the reliance of victim services (which currently cost
about £66m per year) on central government funding.
Childcare (Inspections) (Amendment and Revocation)
Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1698)
13. Under the Childcare Act 2006 ("the 2006
Act"), the Secretary of State has the power to prescribe
intervals at which early years provision must be inspected. The
Childcare (Inspections) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1729) ("the
2008 Regulations") prescribed the intervals for inspection
of early years provision, with the effect that, as a minimum,
all such provision would be inspected just over every three years.[2]
The Childcare (Inspections) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations
2012 ("the Amending Regulations") have been laid by
the Department for Education (DfE). In relation to the 2008 Regulations,
they revoke the requirements on the intervals at which early years
provision must be inspected (as well as related requirements about
not inspecting such provision at independent schools and notification
of inspections). Requirements relating to inspection reports for
early and later years providers are also omitted.
14. The Government consider that, if the requirement
for fixed intervals between inspections were to be maintained,
Ofsted would be required to inspect providers in approximately
the same order in which they inspected them previously, regardless
of the providers' quality. In the EM to the Amending Regulations,
DfE states that the Government are keen to reduce the need for
regulations where these are not mandatory and to ensure that inspections
are appropriately targeted. Under the 2006 Act, the Secretary
of State also has the power to require the Chief Inspector to
inspect early years provision at any time. DfE states that in
future the Secretary of State will use this power, and the requirements
will be set out in a letter to the Chief Inspector. We have received
additional information from DfE, including confirmation that the
Secretary of State's letter to the Chief Inspector will be published
before August, when these Regulations come into force. We are
publishing that information in Appendix 1.
Consumer Credit (Total Charge for Credit) (Amendment)
Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1745)
15. The Consumer Credit Directive 2008[3]
("the 2008 Directive") requires lenders to ensure that
consumers are aware of the annual percentage rate of charge ("APRC")
when entering into consumer credit agreements. The APRC is the
total cost of credit to the consumer expressed as an annual percentage
of the total amount of credit. The 2008 Directive stipulates that
the APRC should be made available in advertising of credit products
and in both pre-contractual information and in the credit agreement
itself. The 2008 Directive was transposed into domestic legislation
in 2010 by means of amendments to the Consumer Credit Act 1974
and by secondary legislation which included the Consumer Credit
(Total Charge for Credit) Regulations 2010 ("the TCC Regulations").
16. The standardisation of the assumptions used
to produce the APRC, set out in the 2008 Directive, was intended
to promote the comparability of different consumer credit products
across Member States. However, differing interpretations of the
APRC calculations across the EU have impeded such comparisons.
A further EU Directive[4]
("the 2011 Directive") has been published to address
this problem. These Regulations, laid by the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS), implement the changes made by the
2011 Directive, by amending the assumptions used for calculating
the APRC contained in the TCC Regulations. In the Explanatory
Memorandum, BIS states that the APRC is mentioned in a variety
of consumer credit legislation, such as that relating to the content
of credit advertisements and consumer credit agreements, and that
the changes to the assumptions made by these Regulations have
a general impact.
Instruments not drawn
to the special attention of the house
The Committee has considered the instruments set
out below and has determined that the special attention of the
House need not be drawn to them.
Draft Instruments subject to affirmative approval
Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations
2012
Child Support Maintenance (Changes to Basic
Rate Calculation and Minimum Amount of Liability) Regulations
2012
Electricity and Gas (Smart Meters Licensable
Activity) Order 2012
Late Night Levy (Application and Administration)
Regulations 2012
Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Automatic
Enrolment) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2012
Official Secrets Act 1989 (Prescription) (Amendment)
Order 2012
Instruments subject to annulment
SI 2012/1672 INSPIRE (Amendment) Regulations
2012
SI 2012/1688 Pension Protection Fund (Miscellaneous
Amendments) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1693 Designation of Features (Notices)
(England) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1696 Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Surcharge)
Order 2012
SI 2012/1698 Childcare (Inspections) (Amendment
and Revocation) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1699 Childcare (General Childcare Register)
(Amendment) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1713 National Police Records (Recordable
Offences) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1715 Volatile Organic Compounds in Paints,
Varnishes and Vehicle Refinishing Products Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1742 Food Hygiene (England) (Amendment)
Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1745 Consumer Credit (Total Charge for
Credit) (Amendment) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1748 Easton and Otley College (Incorporation)
Order 2012
SI 2012/1749 Easton and Otley College (Government)
Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1764 Digital Economy Act 2010 (Transitional
Provision) Regulations 2012
SI 2012/1767 Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations
2012
1 See www.parliament.uk/seclegpublications Back
2
Ofsted has published an informative guide to inspection of early
years provision: "Are you ready for your inspection?"
It can be found at:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/are-you-ready-for-your-inspection-guide-inspections-of-provision-ofsteds-childcare-and-early-years-r
Back
3
Directive 2008/48/EC Back
4
Directive 2011/90/EU Back
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