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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what evidence she has seen of financial services regulators adapting their approach as a result of the secondary objective on international competitiveness and economic growth.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
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:
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:
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.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that financial services regulators fulfil their obligations under their secondary objective on international competitiveness and economic growth.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
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:
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:
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.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of convicted postmasters has her Department contacted to inform them that their conviction has been quashed under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024.
Answered by Heidi Alexander - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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.
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
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 of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing means-testing for the Winter Fuel Payment on hospital admissions.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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:
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 13th of September.