Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 4 September 2025, to Question 70519, on Public Inquiries, what has been the public cost to date of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry.

The annual financial reports for the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry are available on their website: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk. The total spend outlined in these reports up to 31^st March 2025, plus recent spend for 2025/26 (subject to final financial year closure), is £80 million. Updated costs for 2025/26 will be published in due course.

In addition, DBT funds Post Office’s costs of engaging with activities necessary of a core participant of the statutory Inquiry, such as legal representation and disclosure costs. As of 31^st March 2026 the total spend for this is £134m, subject to final financial year closure. While the Department can clearly identify these direct costs of running the Inquiry, it is not possible to separately quantify the cost of departmental participation. Related expenditure, including staff time and legal support, sits within wider departmental budgets and is not recorded on a stand‑alone basis.