The following has been
supplied by the TUC:
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.'
