Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many sub-postmasters from (a) Manchester Gorton constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West were wrongfully convicted due to the Horizon system; and if she will provide this breakdown by ethnicity.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We do not have the regional breakdown of the number of postmasters with overturned convictions according by ethnicity. So far 101 convictions have been overturned by the Courts across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is the Government’s opinion that there were many more wrongful convictions. We have announced that we will bring forward legislation so that Parliament can overturn them. The number of people whose convictions will be overturned by the legislation will depend on its precise terms.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what representations her Department has received from BAME sub-postmasters about the Horizon system.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Individuals making representations do not generally report their ethnicity, therefore, we do not hold this information.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many sub-postmasters from (a) Manchester Gorton constituency, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) the North West voluntarily left the Post Office due to issues with Horizon, broken down by ethnicity.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We do not have the regional breakdown of the number of postmasters who voluntarily left Post office due to Horizon. However, we know that at least 2,700 overall postmasters have been affected by Horizon issues as there have been 2417 Horizon Shortfall Scheme applicants (and a further 336 eligible late claims to date); 101 overturned convictions; and 492 who are currently eligible for the Group Litigation Order Scheme.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will list the number of sub-postmasters affected by Horizon, broken down by ethnicity.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade does not collate information regarding the number of sub-postmasters affected by Horizon according to ethnicity.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether an equality impact assessment has been undertaken for the Horizon compensation scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Post Office does not have specific requirements to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment in delivering compensation. However, the Department has carried out assessments of the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), Overturned Convictions and Group Litigation Order (GLO) compensation against the Public Sector Equality Duty to ensure that due regard is given to the responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, including measures to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of export licencing decisions were processed within (a) 20 days and (b) 60 days in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the strategic export controls licensing Official Statistics on GOV.UK, including data on median processing times and the number/percentage of applications processed against our 20 and 60 working day targets.
This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-quarterly-reports. Table B of each publication provides a break down of median processing times and performance against our 20 and 60 working day targets.
The most recent publication was on 30th August 2023, and covered the period 1st January – 31st March 2023.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to take steps to reduce the average length of time for decisions to be made on export licences.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HM Government is committed to maintaining a robust and transparent export control regime. The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face – and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay.
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics on GOV.UK. This covers licensing decisions back from 2008 onwards and includes data on the average length of time for decisions to be made. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-quarterly-reports.
We keep the licensing process under continuous review, including the targets we set for processing times for applications.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the average length of time for decisions to be made on export licencing on the competitiveness of British exporters.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HM Government is committed to maintaining a robust and transparent export control regime. The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face – and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay.
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics on GOV.UK. This covers licensing decisions back from 2008 onwards and includes data on the average length of time for decisions to be made. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-quarterly-reports.
We keep the licensing process under continuous review, including the targets we set for processing times for applications.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the average length of time for decisions on export licencing has been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
HM Government is committed to maintaining a robust and transparent export control regime. The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face – and of the need to process licence applications with minimum delay.
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics on GOV.UK. This covers licensing decisions back from 2008 onwards and includes data on the average length of time for decisions to be made. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-quarterly-reports.
We keep the licensing process under continuous review, including the targets we set for processing times for applications.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many officials in her Department work on processing export licence applications as of 6 December 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
As at 6 December 2023, the processing of export licence applications was completed by 54 officials within the Department for Business and Trade. This comprised 28 in the Licensing Unit, 19 in the Technical Assessment Unit and 7 in the Enforcement Team.