Post Office: Executive Remuneration

Debate between Lord Johnson of Lainston and Lord Sikka

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sikka]

To ask His Majesty’s Government on which dates since 1999 they exercised their right as the sole share- holder of the Post Office to (1) approve, or (2) disapprove, the executive remuneration policies and amounts.

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Lord Johnson of Lainston) (Con)]

Under current arrangements, the Government, as shareholder, approve the targets underpinning executive performance pay. Targets are typically approved on an annual basis as these schemes are usually revised each year to ensure that targets are up to date. The Government also approve CEO and CFO remuneration, in principle before their formal appointment. For the CEO, this was provided in June 2019 and, for the CFO, in January 2015. Such approvals have historically been made in line with the Government’s guidance on senior pay in the public sector at the appropriate juncture.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, it is shameful that year after year, the Government approved remuneration of Post Office directors boosted by a higher bottom line number and inflated by theft from sub-postmasters. Why has none of that so far been clawed back, and why have the Government approved bonuses for Post Office directors for appearing at the Horizon inquiry?

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord for raising this point. I think we all agree that this is an extremely distressing situation for the postmasters involved. A committee hearing is going on in the other place, which I believe we will discuss later this afternoon. I reassure all Members of this House that the Government never approved the bonuses for the section relating to co-operation with the Horizon inquiry. Frankly, the idea that you should reward executives for performing their duty is surprising, and we certainly did not confirm those bonuses. That is a very important point. The second important point to make is that the executives, as I understand it, have paid back the portion of the bonus relating to that, but that does not change the fact that we need to review how Post Office executive remuneration functions. There has been a number of different reviews of the governance of that, and the Government are taking significant note of them.

Regulatory Approval for New Products and Services

Debate between Lord Johnson of Lainston and Lord Sikka

Monday 22nd January 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I am grateful for those important words and I absolutely agree. There are issues in ensuring that regulators’ mandates are properly focused. It is important to get a balance between, for example, investment, growth and the other regulator duties. I look forward very much to working with the regulators when we assess the responses from the consultation that is currently being undertaken—some were completed last week—to bring together a suite of solutions to ensure that we can continue to grow our economy and regulate it properly.

Let me just add that our regulators are some of the best in the world. From travelling around the world, I know that a number of jurisdictions literally cut and paste our regulatory texts so that they can copy what we do because they admire it so much. That does not mean we should be complacent, but it does ensure that we should focus very much on the opportunities that the growth agenda will give us.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, perhaps I might urge the Minister to think about regulatory approval in a different way, by reminding him that Warren Buffett said:

“Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction”.


We have seen so many financial products mis-sold in this country. Can I urge the Minister to ensure that regulators road-test all financial products before they are unleashed on the unsuspecting public?

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I am grateful for that comment; of course, I would contact the Treasury about it, since that is its specific focus. I totally agree that we need to have trust in financial markets for them to function properly. That also entails significant responsibilities towards the consumer.