Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to tackle compensation delays for people impacted by the Horizon Post Office scandal; what steps he is taking to (a) close the loophole that allows the Post Office to reset the compensation timeline by requesting information and (b) improve (i) transparency and (ii) accountability in the process.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is doing all it can to increase the pace of redress across all four Horizon compensation schemes. We are making upfront fixed offers and making interim and partial payments where possible. We continue to seek options to speed up redress in discussion with the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board.
Requests for information are intended to enable the Post Office and Department to increase its offers to claimants, including where there is a reasonable concern about the basis of calculation. We continue to work to ensure that requests are only issued where necessary, with communication of these requests handled sensitively and in the interests of claimants.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make it his policy to establish additional public holidays to mark (a) St Andrew's Day, (b) St David's Day, (c) St George's Day and (d) St Patrick's Day.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The current pattern of bank and public holidays is well established and accepted. The Government has no plans to change it.
Northern Ireland and Scotland have additional bank holidays for St Patrick’s Day and St Andrew’s Day respectively.
While an additional bank holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy of an additional bank holiday remains considerable. The latest analysis estimates the cost to the UK economy for a one-off bank holiday to be around £2bn.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to transpose the European Accessibility Act into UK law.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Following the UK's Exit from the European Union, the process of transposition of EU Directives has ceased. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL Act) ended the supremacy of EU law over domestic UK law, as of January 1, 2024. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will not directly apply to the UK and, as such, there are no immediate plans within His Majesty's Government (HMG) to transpose this EU legislation. However, UK companies offering in-scope products or services in the EU will need to comply with its provisions, demonstrating that their products/services are compliant with the provisions.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to provide a pardon to people convicted of certain offences related to the miners' strike committed between 12 March 1984 and 3 March 1985.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The legislative programme for the current Parliamentary session has been announced. The Government has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of commissioning an independent review of criminal convictions during the miners strikes of 1984-85.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government does not believe that an independent review of criminal convictions during the miners' strike of 1984-85 is appropriate or necessary. Any individual who believes they have been wrongly convicted of a crime can make a request to the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission who can investigate and where appropriate refer cases back to the courts.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many government contracts have been awarded to Fujitsu for Post Office Ltd since 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Post Office operates as a commercial business at arm’s length from Government and the company is responsible for its own commercial relationships. As such, there are no Government contracts with Fujitsu relating to the Post Office.