Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the annual cost was of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce in 2024–25, including a) staff costs, b) external consultancy costs and c) other programme expenditure.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For financial year 2024-25 the annual cost of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce was £342,983.19. This includes £342,306.01 in staff costs and £677.18 in other programme expenditure covering travel and subsistence.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of her Department’s full time equivalent staff have been allocated to working on its response to failures of the Horizon Post Office IT system in each month of the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
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.
FTE staff |
| |
2022 |
|
|
November | 14.75 |
|
December | 14.75 |
|
2023 |
|
|
January | 17.6 |
|
February | 21.6 |
|
March | 21.6 |
|
April | 21.6 |
|
May | 24.6 |
|
June | 25.6 |
|
July | 26.6 |
|
August | 22.6 |
|
September | 20.6 |
|
October | 20.6 |
|
November | 20.6 |
|
December | 21.6 |
|
2024 |
|
|
January | 27.6 |
|
February | 34.6 |
|
March | 34.6 |
|
April | 46.6 |
|
May | 50.6 |
|
June | 56.6 |
|
July | 65.6 |
|
August | 67.6 |
|
September | 67.6 |
|
October | 68.6 |
|
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraph 4.91 of the Autumn Budget 2024, what proportion of the additional funding will be used to (a) administer the compensation scheme and (b) fund the public inquiry.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
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.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing the Post Office Horizon IT system.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
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.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the response to issues arising from the failures of the Horizon IT System on his Department's capacity to deal with other issues.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
No such assessment has been made, however tackling the legacy of the Horizon scandal is a major priority for the Department.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many civil servants are working only on compensation for postmasters.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
On the 30th of June, there were 45 FTE civil servants working within the Department for Business and Trade, as of the 30th of September, there are 56 full-time equivalent (FTE) civil servants working only on redress for postmasters, an increase of 11 FTE since July. The total excludes a further 15 roles for which recruitment is under way. This figure also excludes the expert cases assessment teams which are contracted by DBT and are not civil servants. Further recruitments will follow as the Department implements plans to create an appeals mechanism for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, as announced in September.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to publish the impact assessment for the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders
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).
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many full-time civil servants are working on compensation for postmasters.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Within the Department for Business and Trade, there are currently 60 full time civil servants working on redress for postmasters across the 4 available redress schemes.
Government is determined that all postmasters who suffered as a result of the Horizon scandal receive the full and fair redress they deserve, as swiftly as possible thus we routinely review whether additional staff are needed.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Employment Rights Bill on (a) SMEs and (b) other employment.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Department is producing an impact assessment of the Employment Rights Bill, in line with the HMT Green Book and the Better Regulation Framework, consideration will be given to the potential impact on SMEs and other employment effects.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to introduce new corporate reporting requirements.
Answered by Justin Madders
The Government is keen to ensure the UK's corporate reporting requirements support economic growth by providing the information investors need to allocate capital effectively, while helping users of reporting understand how business activities align with the UK's net zero and environmental goals. The King's Speech announced that the Government will take forward a bill to improve UK corporate governance and auditing and we will provide further information on specific reporting initiatives in due course.