Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the number of postmasters convicted as a result of failures in the Capture software; and how many of those convictions have been quashed.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans his Department has to review the convictions of postmasters affected by Capture errors in instances where those convictions have not already been quashed.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what progress he has made on providing (a) redress and (b) justice for people affected by Capture software.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no definitive number or record of the number of convictions related to Capture. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has received 31 pre-Horizon applications to date. Incomplete due to the passage of time complicates confirming they are Capture-related. To support the CCRC, we commissioned the Post Office to review its branch files for the period from 1992 to 2000 for potential prosecutions. 448 potential cases have been reviewed with 31 confirmed Capture-related cases. The findings have been sent to the CCRC. If convictions related to Capture are overturned by the courts, we will provide appropriate redress.
For non-convicted postmasters, the Government announced the Capture scheme design on 19 June. We expect to launch in Autumn, starting with an initial 150 claimants before broader rollout.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many permanent civil servants in his Department are staff without assigned posts; and how many are placed in an equivalent (a) people action team, (b) priority movers list, (c) redeployment register, (d) talent pool and (e) skills match hub in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
At any point in time, there is likely to be a number of individuals who have been displaced due to restructures within business units or have returned from a loan from another department and their role no longer exists. The exact number changes on a day to day basis.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much (a) his Department and (b) each of its arm’s length bodies has paid to external public relations firms since 5 July 2024; and to list those firms.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Public relations activity is a subset of communication spend. As such, this data is not held. The Government Communication Service encourages the prioritisation of low and no cost public relations activities wherever possible.
It is recommended that all external communications support should be procured through approved government frameworks, with strict controls in place to ensure cost-effectiveness.
Asked by: John Cooper (Conservative - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not spent anything on media and voice training for Ministers since 5 July 2024.