Premier Alex Scott has announced changes in the way Government compensates victims of violent crime.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Premier Scott (pictured) said: ?While Government is not liable for injuries caused to individuals by acts of others, the Government accepts that it bears some responsibility for the pain and suffering of blameless or innocent victims of violence.

?Although a monetary award cannot compensate in the true sense for that which has been lost, the intent of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS) is to provide a tangible measure of support on behalf of our society,? he said.

Members of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB), including Justice Norma Wade Miller, reported to Cabinet regarding the changes they wanted to make. The Premier has made these changes official.

The CICB was given legislative authority to provide financial compensation to victims of violent crime through the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) Act 1973.

If any of the victims were to die from their injuries, the victim?s family ?could also be compensated by the Board with a determined amount?, Director of the Department of Communication and Information, Beverly Lottimore said.

The CICB made several key recommendations that Government agreed on. They agreed to put money aside to pay the private sector to assist them in compensating victims. There is a ?backlog of cases?, Ms Lottimore said.

The next addition will be an ?up front consultation programme? to assist victims in correctly ?understanding and completing their submissions?, she said.

Mr. Scott will also be asking for the law to be changed regarding the number of medical representatives on the CICB.

At present, the Chair of CICB is the only one, so when they are not available for a meeting, the work cannot continue.

But when the new law is passed there can be a ?substitute Chair? who will be a medical representative so meetings can continue.

CICB wishes to ?time-bar? the victims from not handing in all of their information in a timely fashion.

?Many applications are presented, however applicants may take an inordinate amount of time to provide supporting information,? Ms Lottimore said.

Finally, the Premier will introduce a scheme to see how much money is awarded to different injuries to catalogue all compensation to create a database.

?Ideally, guilty perpetrators should be held accountable for victim compensation, but in reality many offenders are not apprehended or they have no financial means to pay,? Premier Scott said.