Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to expand the applicability of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill to cover postmasters and postmistresses in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Government has worked at pace to deliver legislation to tackle the injustice faced by wrongfully convicted postmasters. The Government carefully considers the territorial extent of each piece of legislation and remains committed to supporting devolved administrations. Devolved administrations with powers to legislate in these areas should be expected to use them, as the UK Government has done in England and Wales.
The UK Government stand ready to support the Northern Ireland Executive to enable them to progress their own approaches to overturning convictions in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of when postmasters and postmistresses will receive legal exoneration through legislation; and when they expect that legislation to come into force.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 13 March. With the will of both Houses of Parliament, the Government’s intention is that the Bill receives Royal Assent as soon as possible before Summer Recess. Convictions in scope will be quashed on Royal Assent.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the request made by the Northern Ireland Executive, what assessment they have made of widening the scope of the legislation to reverse the convictions of sub-postmasters so that applies to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Justice is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland. After engagement with interested parties and careful consideration, the Government believe that the approach for overturning the convictions in Scotland and Northern Ireland should be determined by the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive.
The Government will continue to work with the Devolved Administrations to enable them to progress their own approaches to overturning convictions in their jurisdictions to ensure equitable outcomes for victims across the UK.
Compensation will be paid on a common basis across the UK as postal services are a reserved matter.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of services and facilities that can be accessed from Post Offices.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
While publicly owned, Post Office operates at arm’s length from Government as a commercial business with its own Board. Government protects access to a range of key services, but Post Office has commercial freedom to adapt its services to meet the needs of its diverse customer base. Post Office continues to work with both the private and public sectors to identify new opportunities to deliver different services through its network.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of closures of Post Offices; and what steps they are taking to reverse this trend.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Government is committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Post Office network and has provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network over the past decade and is providing a further £335 million for the Post Office between 2022 and 2025.
The Post Office network is not in decline. As CEO Nick Read confirmed recently, the network is as large as it has been for about five years with over 11,600 branches. Government continues to monitor Post Office's network numbers and performance, and Post Office publishes an annual network report.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many businesses relocated from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in the last four years.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The requested statistics are unavailable as there is no register of UK “businesses.”
There is no mechanism to relocate a UK limited company between jurisdictions. A company must maintain a registered office in the part of the UK in which it was originally incorporated. It is in this jurisdiction that the company remains legally domiciled regardless of where in the UK it might carry out its business activities. To relocate a limited company a new entity would need to be formed and the previous entity closed. No connection between the two would be recorded on the Register of Companies.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken under the framework of the UK internal market to ensure that all parts of the UK are able to (1) fully, and (2) equally, participate under the terms of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade arrangements.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have provided for the application of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to all four parts of the UK, which includes Northern Ireland. CPTPP also takes into account the effects of the Windsor Framework by allowing the United Kingdom to take measures under the Windsor Framework designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and to protect the peace process. Manufacturers and exporters in Northern Ireland will benefit from CPTPP in the same way as exporters in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, under the provisions of the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland manufacturers will be able to manufacture goods compatible with the requirements and regulations of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade arrangements.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have provided for the application of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to all four parts of the UK, which includes Northern Ireland. CPTPP also takes into account the effects of the Windsor Framework by allowing the United Kingdom to take measures under the Windsor Framework designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and to protect the peace process. Manufacturers and exporters in Northern Ireland will benefit from CPTPP in the same way as exporters in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, under the provisions of the Windsor Framework, Northern Ireland will be able to participate fully and on the same basis as other parts of the UK in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade arrangements.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have provided for the application of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to all four parts of the UK, which includes Northern Ireland. CPTPP also takes into account the effects of the Windsor Framework by allowing the United Kingdom to take measures under the Windsor Framework designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and to protect the peace process. Manufacturers and exporters in Northern Ireland will benefit from CPTPP in the same way as exporters in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government which retained EU laws the Department for International Trade is planning to reform or revoke in the event of a passage into law of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Individual departments are in the process of assessing their REUL and developing proposals for whether they intend to revoke or reform each piece of legislation or preserve it from the sunset.
We will be ambitious but mindful of ensuring that businesses and stakeholders are engaged and consulted in the usual way on policy changes, whilst upholding commitments already given at the despatch box.
It is right that, 7 years after the British public voted to leave the EU, and 3 years since we formally left, that the programme to review, revoke and reform retained EU law is underway, and we take advantage of our new freedoms.