Jerome Mayhew

Public procurement is a key lever for enabling delivery of the Government’s missions by using procurement policy to drive economic growth, raise employment standards in business, and achieve additional social value through the life of a contract. The Government’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ sets out an ambitious programme to value organisations that create local jobs, skills and wealth and treat their workers well and equally. Ministers are considering how to take these plans forward.

Of the additional funding set out in the Autumn Budget 2024 for financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26, over £150m will be used to administer the various compensation schemes. Over £100m has been set aside to continue to fund DBT and Post Office’s participation in the public inquiry.

The Budget also set out that around £1.8 billion has been set aside for redress costs for the victims of the Horizon IT Scandal from 2024-25.

The table below shows the number and proportion of the Department's Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff over the last 2 years working solely on its response to the Post Office Horizon Scandal. The figures do not include a further 15 vacant roles for which recruitment is under way and expert cases assessment teams which are contracted by DBT and are not civil servants. Also, further recruitment will follow as the Department implements plans to create an appeals mechanism for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, as announced in September.

No such assessment has been made, however tackling the legacy of the Horizon scandal is a major priority for the Department.

As part of the Spending Review 2021 Government provided Post Office with a total of £185m of funding to support investment activities, which included the ongoing maintenance and replacement of the Horizon IT system. In 2023 Government provided a further £103m to support with the costs of Horizon maintenance and replacement. Post Office is currently assessing the future costs of replacing the Horizon IT system. Further funding is to be allocated subject to the Spending Review process.

On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill (http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments).

To meet our current and future nuclear ambitions, we will work with the civil nuclear sector to ensure the UK has a resilient supply chain with the required capabilities and capacity across a range of activities from the front-end fuel cycle to waste management.

To do so, we will continue to engage with industry to identify barriers to entry and opportunities for working together to improve the attractiveness of working in the nuclear sector.

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with Ministerial Colleagues on a number of issues.

Nuclear energy, as one of the most reliable, secure, low-carbon sources of home-produced energy, is an essential part of our journey to net zero. Our manifesto made it clear that we support new nuclear, both large-scale, such as Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, and Small Modular Reactors.

Great British Nuclear was established in 2023 as an expert nuclear delivery. It is currently running a small modular reactor technology selection process. This is a live procurement and is ongoing; the window for submitting tenders has now closed and Great British Nuclear is now evaluating bids, with further updates to follow in due course.

Great British Nuclear was established in 2023 as an expert nuclear delivery. It is currently running a small modular reactor technology selection process. This is a live procurement and is ongoing; the window for submitting tenders has now closed and Great British Nuclear is now evaluating bids, with further updates to follow in due course.

This is not a decision any Government would want to make, but we inherited a £22 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. Difficult decisions are required.

We continue to stand behind vulnerable households by:

• Increasing the state pension by around £460 for over 12 million pensioners in April, because of our commitment to protect the triple lock.
• Delivering the £150 Warm Home Discount for low-income households and providing £421 million to extend the Household Support Fund.

We are encouraging pensioners to check their eligibility for Pension Credit to ensure as many people as possible have access to support they’re entitled to. We have seen a 152% increase in claims since announcement.

An equality assessment was published by DWP on the 13^th of September.

Effective, proportionate regulation is key to a thriving UK economy and delivering the government’s mission to drive the inclusive growth and international competitiveness of the UK’s financial services sector. The government is working closely with the regulators to deliver the government’s vision for the sector, and ministers meet with the FCA and PRA regularly to engage on this.

The government is required to write to the Prudential Regulation Committee and the FCA at least once in each Parliament, making recommendations about aspects of economic policy they should have regard to as they consider the advancement of the PRA’s and FCA’s objectives and the discharge of their duties. These letters must be laid before Parliament and published.

The FCA and PRA are required to report to the Treasury on how they have advanced their competitiveness and growth objectives. They published the first reports in July, which set out how they have begun to adapt their approach in light of the new objectives. The reports can be found here:

• https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/sicgo-report-2023-24.pdf
• https://beta.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/prudential-regulation/report/scgo-report.pdf

The Chief Executive of the FCA and the Chief Executive of the PRA have recently given speeches setting out more details on how they are implementing the new objectives. These can be found here:

• https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/growth-mission-possible
• https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2024/october/sam-woods-speech-at-annual-city-banquet-at-mansion-house

The government will continue to work closely with the FCA and PRA to ensure they continue to embed these secondary objectives, in support of the government’s wider growth mission.

Effective, proportionate regulation is key to a thriving UK economy and delivering the government’s mission to drive the inclusive growth and international competitiveness of the UK’s financial services sector. The government is working closely with the regulators to deliver the government’s vision for the sector, and ministers meet with the FCA and PRA regularly to engage on this.

The government is required to write to the Prudential Regulation Committee and the FCA at least once in each Parliament, making recommendations about aspects of economic policy they should have regard to as they consider the advancement of the PRA’s and FCA’s objectives and the discharge of their duties. These letters must be laid before Parliament and published.

The FCA and PRA are required to report to the Treasury on how they have advanced their competitiveness and growth objectives. They published the first reports in July, which set out how they have begun to adapt their approach in light of the new objectives. The reports can be found here:

• https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/sicgo-report-2023-24.pdf
• https://beta.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/prudential-regulation/report/scgo-report.pdf

The Chief Executive of the FCA and the Chief Executive of the PRA have recently given speeches setting out more details on how they are implementing the new objectives. These can be found here:

• https://www.fca.org.uk/news/speeches/growth-mission-possible
• https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2024/october/sam-woods-speech-at-annual-city-banquet-at-mansion-house

The government will continue to work closely with the FCA and PRA to ensure they continue to embed these secondary objectives, in support of the government’s wider growth mission.

Recent trends in the rate of the business rates multiplier can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-business-rates.

A number of reliefs are available to support businesses with their business rate liabilities. The eligibility criteria for them can be found on GOV.Uk. This includes the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) which provides 100% rate relief for eligible properties with rateable values below £12,000 with tapered relief available for eligible properties with rateable values between £12,000 and £15,000. SBRR means that over a third of the smallest non-domestic properties in England pay no business rates.

I am unable to comment on the Welsh business rates system, as business rates is a devolved policy area which means this is a matter for the Welsh government.

Recent trends in the rate of the business rates multiplier can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-business-rates.

A number of reliefs are available to support businesses with their business rate liabilities. The eligibility criteria for them can be found on GOV.Uk. This includes the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) which provides 100% rate relief for eligible properties with rateable values below £12,000 with tapered relief available for eligible properties with rateable values between £12,000 and £15,000. SBRR means that over a third of the smallest non-domestic properties in England pay no business rates.

I am unable to comment on the Welsh business rates system, as business rates is a devolved policy area which means this is a matter for the Welsh government.

The Government will outline a tax roadmap for business at the Budget to offer the certainty that encourages investment and gives business the confidence to grow, including our commitment to cap corporation tax at 25% for the duration of this Parliament and to retain full expensing.

The Government places great importance upon our agriculture and food production, and this is reflected in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework is clear that local planning authorities should recognise the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land. Where significant development of agricultural land is shown to be necessary, including ground mounted solar, the planning authority should seek to use poorer quality land in preference to that of a higher quality.

I refer the honourable Member to our GOV.UK page where we now publish 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 end of September, we had assessed 459 individual cases and had written to 335 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 early November.

We are unable to provide an assessment of what proportion of individuals with convictions this represents, as we may not hold records for all relevant individuals. 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.

The Horizon scandal was an unprecedented miscarriage of justice and the Government is working to notify all postmasters whose convictions have been quashed as quickly as possible. This work is carried out through a specially trained casework team who assess each case and verify that a conviction has been quashed by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024. The team must assess a wide variety of data sources including records from the Police National Computer, Post Office Limited, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Criminal Cases Review Commission. As some of these convictions are decades old, it can take time to retrieve crucial pieces of data such as court records which adds to the time taken to verify a conviction in scope of the Act.

As of 8 October 2024, the Ministry of Justice has 22 civil servants working on the process of informing individuals who have had a conviction quashed by the Act. This number includes the dedicated Post Office convictions casework team as well as policy advisers, legal advisers, analysts and managerial oversight. The process to provide financial redress to postmasters is undertaken separately by the Department for Business and Trade with a separate team of civil servants, once a conviction has been overturned.

I refer the honourable Member to the answer I gave on 10 September 2024 to Question 4254 (https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-09-04/4254).

The Government will begin to release monthly management information on the progress of the Post Office Convictions casework team. The first release of this management information will be on 3rd October 2024.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 quashed all convictions meeting the conditions in the Act immediately upon commencement on 24 May 2024.

Following the commencement of the Act, the Ministry of Justice has been working through data from a range of sources and spanning multiple decades to identify convictions that are in scope of the Act and notify individuals of this where possible. As of 6 September 2024, the Ministry of Justice has sent 178 letters to individuals notifying them that their convictions were quashed by the Act, covering a total of 506 convictions. More letters are being sent on a daily basis, and we aim to have issued letters to individuals with a known conviction by early November.