Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the oral contribution the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 10 March 2020, Official Report, column 43WH, what steps he is taking to challenge Post Office Ltd leadership on its engagement with sub-postmasters.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that Post Office Limited’s commitments for cultural and organisational change following the mediation are of the upmost importance and is determined to see them delivered.
I have personally challenged the Post Office CEO and Chair to strengthen their relationship with postmasters and take onboard the lessons learnt through the litigation. I will continue to raise this issue and test progress during my regular meetings with the CEO going forward. Officials will also monitor progress at regular meetings with Post Office officials.
BEIS has established and chairs a quarterly working group with the National Federation for Subpostmasters and the Post Office. This is a forum for discussing how the relationship between the Post Office and postmasters can be improved and highlighting any concerns that postmasters may have. This is a further forum where we will test whether progress is being made.
The Government is also committed to establishing an independent review to look at these issues further. We will announce more details in due course. We will ensure that any review does not undermine the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s work or the separate Director of Public Prosecution’s consideration.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) the most recent Network Subsidy Payment or (b) any other funding from the public purse to the Post Office (i) was and (ii) will be used to fund any settlement or litigation.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that Postmasters are at the heart of communities and we recognise the strength of feelings about the negative impact the Horizon Court case has had on postmasters, causing distress to them and their families.
In relation to £57.75 million settlement that was agreed between Post Office Limited and the postmasters concerned. The costs involved in the legal defence of this litigation were drawn from Post Office Limited’s own commercial revenues, including the settlement offer. The shareholder has specifically required that government funding is not used for this purpose.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to support customers of Thomas Cook that have outstanding personal injury claims against that company.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Following the collapse of Thomas Cook, the Government committed to develop proposals for a capped, statutory payment scheme to support customers who suffered life-changing injuries, illness or loss of life while on Thomas Cook holidays for which the company would have been liable and who may now face serious financial hardship as a result of the company’s approach.
We intend to bring forward the legislation necessary to establish such a scheme in due course.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Post Office annual report 2018-19 will be published.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Post Office Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19 will be published in due course, after they are laid before Parliament, and in line with the requirement set out in the relevant Postal Services Act (2000).
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that recalled products are not subsequently available to purchase online.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is important that where products are subject to recall they are not offered for sale, either online or offline.
I have recently written to major online retailers to urge them to take necessary measures to ensure that electrical products subject to recall are not made available through their platforms. I have asked these businesses to share with OPSS the actions they are taking to achieve this.
This follows a previous letter from OPSS informing these platforms of the recall of certain models of Whirlpool tumble dryer.
If a business is found to be selling such products, OPSS will take appropriate action to secure public safety.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will ask the Office for Product Safety and Standards to (a) undertake an urgent review of and (b) support Electrical Safety First campaign to improve the regulation of electrical goods sales.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Manufacturers and importers have a legal obligation to place only safe electrical products on the market and distributors have obligations to ensure the electrical products they sell are safe.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is working in partnership with several strategic stakeholders, including Electrical Safety First, undertaking a number of projects on the safety of electrical goods. This includes work aimed at preventing counterfeit and non-compliant goods entering the UK market.
I have written to major online platforms to ask them to do more to ensure that unsafe products are identified and removed from their sites.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason he decided to issue a recall notice to Whirlpool in relation to that company's tumble driers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards’ (OPSS) actions have been driven by a commitment to ensure public safety. On 4 June, OPSS issued a letter of intent to serve a recall notice. As a result, Whirlpool is instigating a full recall of unmodified, affected tumble dryers. The House was updated of this action in a written ministerial statement on 10 July.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Office for Product Safety and Standards inquiry into Whirlpool; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of consumers. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) was tasked with reviewing the effectiveness of Whirlpool’s technical modification and the adequacy of its consumer outreach programme, and that review was published on 4th April.
The review focussed on an engineering assessment of Whirlpool tumble dryers and expert analysis of data including fire and incident data from Fire and Rescue Services, Which? and Whirlpool. It also reviewed whether Whirlpool’s consumer outreach programme was adequate. The OPSS review was conducted by scientific, legal and product safety experts including input from the Government’s Health and Safety Laboratory and it was reviewed by the BEIS Chief Scientific Advisor.
I am satisfied that the review was robust and thorough.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many affected Whirlpool customers the Office for Product Safety and Standards contacted as part of its review of the company's handling of its tumble dryer safety issue announced in November 2015.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards review focussed on engineering assessment of Whirlpool tumble dryers and expert analysis of data including fire and incident data from Fire and Rescue Services, Which? and Whirlpool. It also reviewed whether Whirlpool’s consumer outreach programme was adequate.
The review included input from scientific, legal and product safety experts including from the Government’s Health and Safety Laboratory and the BEIS Chief Scientific Advisor.
Interviews with consumers did not form part of the review.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Office for Product Safety and Standards has required Whirlpool to take to raise awareness of at-risk tumble dryers in UK homes, as part of its review of the company's handling of its safety issue announced in November 2015.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has published specific requirements for Whirlpool to act on and issued a Decision Letter telling Whirlpool that the company must: improve its management of risk; set up a more rigorous system of quality assurance to ensure modifications are correctly installed; and reach affected consumers in more creative ways to minimise the risk of faulty machines still being in people’s homes.
OPSS will monitor Whirlpool’s actions against these requirements.