Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to ensure that energy meter reading technology is being upgraded in line with the latest technological developments.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The accuracy of energy meters is of benefit to both energy providers and consumers and is a requirement of the Electricity and Gas Act legislation covering energy meters. To ensure the UK is taking account of the latest technological innovations the Government participates on relevant international committees that develop internationally recognised standards for ensuring consumption via energy meters is recorded accurately. Following those standards helps industry ensure they are also meeting their legal requirements.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people claimed statutory paternity pay in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP). This data provides a broad indication of Paternity Leave take-up but does not include those that take unpaid paternity leave. The Parental Rights Survey found that 70% of all employee fathers took Paternity Leave.
Table 1: Individuals in receipt of SPP, 2019/20 to 2023/24 (the latest year for which full year data is available)
Year (April to March) | Total |
2019-20 | 208,000 |
2020-21 | 176,400 |
2021-22 | 204,200 |
2022-23 | 195,300 |
2023-24 | 207,600 |
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to speed up compensation payments for sub-postmasters impacted by the Horizon IT System.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government is committed to providing redress to individuals affected by the Horizon scandal as quickly as possible. Real progress is being made; as of 30 September 2024, approximately £363 million has been paid to over 2,900 claimants across the available schemes.
We however continue to seek options to speed up redress, in discussion with the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board. For example, we have recently committed to providing offers in response to fully completed claims to the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme within 40 working days in 90% of cases, in line with the commitment on the GLO scheme which we are currently meeting.