Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims of sexual abuse have been refused compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority since 1996 because they (a) had a criminal conviction related to the coercion aspect of the grooming process and (b) lived in the same household as their abuser and the abuse was committed prior to 1979.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) does not hold information about how many victims of sexual abuse have been refused compensation since 1996 because they had a criminal conviction related to the coercion aspect of the grooming process.

It has only been mandatory for applicants to provide an indication of the type of incident for which they are claiming compensation since 1 January 2015. Since that date, 180 applications from victims of sexual abuse have been refused compensation by CICA as a result of the non-discretionary Scheme rule that excludes compensation in circumstances where the criminal injury was sustained before 1 October 1979 and, at the time of the incident, the applicant and assailant were living together as members of the same family.