Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what fines they have levied on P&O Ferries Limited and its directors for failure to file annual audited financial statement at Companies House within the statutory prescribed time for the accounts made up to (1) 31 December 2021, (2) 31 December 2022, and (3) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
P&O Ferries Limited has incurred the following penalties for delivering overdue accounts for the reporting years specified:
31 December 2021 | £1500 |
31 December 2022 | £3000 |
Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2023 will incur a £3000 penalty when they are delivered.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they sanction foreign resident directors of UK registered companies for violations of company law.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Companies Act 2006 applies equally to all UK registered companies and their officers regardless of where the directors are based.
Insolvency Service decisions to pursue an allegation of criminal misconduct by a foreign resident director of a UK registered company will assess the seriousness of the offence(s) alleged, whether there is a reasonable prospect of securing their return to the jurisdiction for any prosecution and the resources required.
Civil enforcement requires leave of the court to serve proceedings outside the jurisdiction.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many companies registered at Companies House do not have a UK resident director.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Companies House does not currently hold this statistic. Furthermore, as country of residency is a voluntary field there are issues with the data quality. However, the introduction of voluntary and mandatory identity verification will allow us to be able to analyse and determine the residency of company directors in the future.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 8 April (HL6146), what fines have been levied against companies that have not identified all persons of significant control; and how many have been prosecuted and convicted.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Both the company and the company director are prosecuted for offences relating to registration requirements for People with Significant Control under Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006.
The number of prosecutions under Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006 that have resulted in a conviction against a company, and the total value of fines levied as a result, for the period March 2018 to March 2025, are as follows:
| Number of companies convicted | Total Value of Fines (£) |
2018/19 | 61 | £19,150.00 |
2019/20 | 68 | £21,040.00 |
2020/21 | 23 | £14,420.00 |
2021/22 | 56 | £54,804.00 |
2022/23 | 52 | £25,648.00 |
2023/24 | 31 | £12,620.00 |
2024/25 | 13 | £10,840.00 |
Total | 304 | £158,522.00 |
The number of prosecutions under Part 21A of the Companies Act 2006 that have resulted in a conviction against a director and the total value of fines levied as a result, for the period March 2018 to March 2025, are as follows:
| Number of Directors Convicted | Total Value of Fines (£) |
2018/19 | 64 | £18,170.00 |
2019/20 | 94 | £31,302.00 |
2020/21 | 23 | £14,444.00 |
2021/22 | 58 | £56,174.00 |
2022/23 | 52 | £35,508.00 |
2023/24 | 32 | £11,813.00 |
2024/25 | 13 | £10,895.00 |
Total | 336 | £178,306.00 |
The data provided is from Insolvency Service management information and not from official statistics.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish the trade agreement between the UK and India; and whether they plan to seek Parliament’s approval prior to ratification.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A summary document of the trade agreement between the UK and India is already on the Gov.uk website. This Government plans to publish the full agreement when the deal is signed, which will then be subject to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. The Act provides Parliament with the opportunity to scrutinise new trade agreements that are subject to ratification and, if it wishes, to resolve against them.
Additionally, any changes to UK legislation will need to be scrutinised and passed by Parliament in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have held discussions with the Financial Reporting Council to ensure that the Post Office auditors complied with section 498(1)(a) of the Companies Act 2006.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Regulation of auditors is the responsibility of the Financial Reporting Council. The Financial Reporting Council announced on 16 April that it had commenced an investigation into the statutory audits of Post Office Limited for the financial years ending 2015 to 2018, with particular reference to matters related to the Horizon IT system.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 31 March (HL Deb cols 16–18) committing to provide £2.5 billion to the steel industry, whether they will have an economic interest in the resulting assets and income streams.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has committed up to £2.5bn to support the UK steel industry, which will be available through the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and other routes.
The NWF will catalyse private capital in the UK’s world-leading clean energy and growth industries, including green steel. NWF investments are intended to deliver a positive financial return for the Exchequer, in line with its Financial Framework.
We are also considering other funding mechanisms to help achieve our vision for the sector. We will provide further details in the steel strategy when it is published in spring 2025.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has, so far, been (1) the highest, and (2) the lowest, amounts of compensation actually paid to sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office as a result of the Horizon software.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As of 31 March 2025, the total amount of redress paid to victims across all schemes has increased by more than three and a half times since the General Election, nine months ago, with £892 million having now been paid to over 6,200 claimants across all schemes. During this same time period, more than 3,300 victims have received compensation for the first time.
We are unable to share details of individual claims. Releasing this type of information risks the identification of vulnerable individuals if combined with other information that may become available via other means outside of our control.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the "transformation incentive" scheme authorising bonuses to be paid to Post Office directors for co-operating with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry was designed, approved and implemented; and which Ministers, if any, approved it.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
These questions relate to the performance metrics for the Post Office Limited ‘Transformation Incentive Scheme’ in place 2020-2022. The Government at the time agreed to the original targets but were not consulted on whether the Post Office could legitimately say that it had achieved those targets.
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold information on which directors and executives received bonuses relating to cooperation with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. Whilst Post Office will hold this information, it is personal information and therefore not appropriate for publication. We understand that all Post Office employees who received bonuses voluntarily returned the remuneration associated with the metric relating to the Post Office’s support for the Inquiry except for one who was on long term absence.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will list the names of Post Office directors and executives, and the amount of bonus paid to each for co-operating with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
These questions relate to the performance metrics for the Post Office Limited ‘Transformation Incentive Scheme’ in place 2020-2022. The Government at the time agreed to the original targets but were not consulted on whether the Post Office could legitimately say that it had achieved those targets.
The Department for Business and Trade does not hold information on which directors and executives received bonuses relating to cooperation with the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. Whilst Post Office will hold this information, it is personal information and therefore not appropriate for publication. We understand that all Post Office employees who received bonuses voluntarily returned the remuneration associated with the metric relating to the Post Office’s support for the Inquiry except for one who was on long term absence.