Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2026 to question 120645, whether an estimate has been made of the overall expected resource requirements of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce over the Spending Review period.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has not made an estimate of the overall expected resource requirements of its Sustainability Taskforce over the Spending Review period.
In reference to the previous answer to question 120645, the CMA does not allocate specific multi-year funding to individual workstreams such as the Sustainability Taskforce, which remain subject to wider prioritisation decisions.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of current and projected gigafactory battery production capacity in Europe; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of that capacity for UK automotive demand.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK collaborates with Government, automotive industry, and academia to produce quarterly forecasts. The latest insights show, based on nameplate capacity, European cell production is projected to surpass demand in 2027.
While EU trade remains vital to the sector, it is critical for UK economic resilience and competitiveness that we build domestic battery production capacity and diverse supply chains.
This Government is supporting our domestic battery ecosystem through Industrial Strategy commitments, where we announced the UK's largest single commitment to battery R&D in the Battery Innovation Programme, and significant capital support through DRIVE35 funding.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2026 to Question 118863, what the annual estimated cost of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce is in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) is not able to provide an estimated annual cost for the Sustainability Taskforce for 2025/26 before its accounts for the financial year are finalised. Its Annual Report and Accounts for 2025/26 will be laid before Parliament in the normal way.
The CMA does not allocate specific multi-year funding to individual workstreams such as the Sustainability Taskforce, which remain subject to wider prioritisation decisions. Budgets for 2026/27 and 2027/28 have not yet been formally delegated by HM Treasury or approved through the Main Estimate process. Estimated costs for these future years are therefore not available.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the annual cost was of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce in 2024–25, including a) staff costs, b) external consultancy costs and c) other programme expenditure.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For financial year 2024-25 the annual cost of the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sustainability Taskforce was £342,983.19. This includes £342,306.01 in staff costs and £677.18 in other programme expenditure covering travel and subsistence.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of her Department’s full time equivalent staff have been allocated to working on its response to failures of the Horizon Post Office IT system in each month of the last two years.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
The table below shows the number and proportion of the Department's Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff over the last 2 years working solely on its response to the Post Office Horizon Scandal. The figures do not include a further 15 vacant roles for which recruitment is under way and expert cases assessment teams which are contracted by DBT and are not civil servants. Also, further recruitment will follow as the Department implements plans to create an appeals mechanism for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, as announced in September.
FTE staff |
| |
2022 |
|
|
November | 14.75 |
|
December | 14.75 |
|
2023 |
|
|
January | 17.6 |
|
February | 21.6 |
|
March | 21.6 |
|
April | 21.6 |
|
May | 24.6 |
|
June | 25.6 |
|
July | 26.6 |
|
August | 22.6 |
|
September | 20.6 |
|
October | 20.6 |
|
November | 20.6 |
|
December | 21.6 |
|
2024 |
|
|
January | 27.6 |
|
February | 34.6 |
|
March | 34.6 |
|
April | 46.6 |
|
May | 50.6 |
|
June | 56.6 |
|
July | 65.6 |
|
August | 67.6 |
|
September | 67.6 |
|
October | 68.6 |
|
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to paragraph 4.91 of the Autumn Budget 2024, what proportion of the additional funding will be used to (a) administer the compensation scheme and (b) fund the public inquiry.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
Of the additional funding set out in the Autumn Budget 2024 for financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26, over £150m will be used to administer the various compensation schemes. Over £100m has been set aside to continue to fund DBT and Post Office’s participation in the public inquiry.
The Budget also set out that around £1.8 billion has been set aside for redress costs for the victims of the Horizon IT Scandal from 2024-25.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the cost of replacing the Post Office Horizon IT system.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
As part of the Spending Review 2021 Government provided Post Office with a total of £185m of funding to support investment activities, which included the ongoing maintenance and replacement of the Horizon IT system. In 2023 Government provided a further £103m to support with the costs of Horizon maintenance and replacement. Post Office is currently assessing the future costs of replacing the Horizon IT system. Further funding is to be allocated subject to the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the response to issues arising from the failures of the Horizon IT System on his Department's capacity to deal with other issues.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
No such assessment has been made, however tackling the legacy of the Horizon scandal is a major priority for the Department.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many civil servants are working only on compensation for postmasters.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
On the 30th of June, there were 45 FTE civil servants working within the Department for Business and Trade, as of the 30th of September, there are 56 full-time equivalent (FTE) civil servants working only on redress for postmasters, an increase of 11 FTE since July. The total excludes a further 15 roles for which recruitment is under way. This figure also excludes the expert cases assessment teams which are contracted by DBT and are not civil servants. Further recruitments will follow as the Department implements plans to create an appeals mechanism for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, as announced in September.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he plans to publish the impact assessment for the Employment Rights Bill.
Answered by Justin Madders
On Monday 21 October, the Government published a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill (http://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments).