Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department offers protection to staff from unfair dismissal from their first working day.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice has comprehensive people policies in place to protect staff from unfair dismissal. These policies set out a clear, fair and legally compliant process for dealing with conduct, attendance, performance and failed probation related dismissals. These policies are applicable to Ministry of Justice staff from day one of employment.
All dismissals are handled in line with current legislation and appropriate Codes of Practice. Where an employee feels they may have been unfairly dismissed, appropriate internal appeal routes may be instigated. Where an employee is unable to solve a problem internally, they may be able to go to an employment tribunal to claim unfair dismissal, as set out in legislation.
This position will be reviewed when unfair dismissal rights are updated in line with proposals in the Employment Rights Bill.
Asked by: Alison Griffiths (Conservative - Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many letters her Department has sent informing postmasters and former postmasters that their conviction has been rescinded under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
I refer the honourable Member to the GOV.UK page where the Ministry of Justice publishes monthly management information on the progress of the Post Office Convictions casework team. This page can be found at: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024: Quashed convictions management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
As of the 29 November, the Department had assessed 875 individual cases and had written to 526 individuals or their appropriate contacts to inform them that they had one or more convictions quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024. A further update will be published in mid-January.
I would actively encourage anyone who believes they have a conviction in scope of the legislation and has not heard from my department to register for the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme on GOV.UK so their case can be considered.