Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Open General Export Licence for exports in support of joint strike fighter: F-35 Lightning II has been reviewed since October 2023.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government continues to monitor closely the situation in Israel and Gaza.
The Government can and does respond quickly and flexibly to changing international circumstances. All export licences, including Open General Export Licences, are kept under careful and continual review as standard. We are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences and refuse new licence applications as circumstances require.
Any changes to Open General Export Licences would be communicated through a Notice to Exporters which would be published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to include an analysis of the work of the Office for Trade Sanctions Implementation in future strategic export controls annual reports.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2023, which is due to be published later this year, will include an update on the creation of the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) and plans to transition certain functions from the Export Control Joint Unit to OTSI. Once OTSI has been established, we expect it to produce an annual report covering the breadth of OTSI’s activity.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 16678 on Department for Business and Trade: Supply Estimates, for what reason she has not provided the explanatory memorandum on her Department's supplementary estimates to the Business and Trade Committee; and when she plans to do so.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade’s Supplementary Estimates Explanatory Memorandum was sent to the chair of the Business and Trade Committee on Friday 15th March 2024.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much and what proportion of the funding for Post Office redress schemes has been allocated to fund the Group Litigation Order scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There is no fixed allocation of funding for Horizon scandal redress payments. Each redress claim is considered on its merits and the Government is committed to ensuring all necessary funding is available to pay all claims as soon as they are agreed.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Supplementary Estimates, published on 27 February 2024, HC 500, how she plans to spend the additional £1.09 billion requested by her Department for the Post Office; and whether this sum includes the £123 million already settled with sub-postmasters by the Post Office.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £1.09 billion requested by the Department for Post Office related matters as part of Supplementary Estimates for 23/24 is split by £338.4 million Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL), and £752.4 million non-cash Annually Managed Expenditure (AME).
The £338.4 million RDEL includes funding for redress to postmasters, investment costs to replace the Horizon IT system, delivery of the Horizon IT Inquiry and compensation schemes, Post Office’s corporation tax liabilities and the Group Litigation Order redress scheme.
The increase of £752.4 million AME budget is due to the expected increase in the provision for likely future costs relating to Post Office redress schemes. The forecast for the outstanding estimated liability is updated and agreed with HM Treasury on an annual basis.
This detail is shortly to be published in the Explanatory Memorandum for the Department.
Funding drawn down by the Department at the Supplementary Estimate relates only to value of expected redress settlements within this Financial Year, as well as other payments outlined above, and not to total amounts paid out to postmasters to date.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish an explanatory memorandum in relation to her Department’s supplementary estimates for 2023-24.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Yes, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade will publish an explanatory memorandum in relation to the Department’s Supplementary Estimates for 2023-24.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her Departments budget was for internal resource allocation, broken down by year, for each year in which projections are available.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade’s resource allocation budget following the Supplementary Estimate for 2023/24 is:
Control Total |
| Full Yr Budget (£m) |
Resource DEL Admin |
| 513.1 |
Resource DEL Programme |
| 1,454.1 |
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what budgetary provision her Department has allocated for payments of redress to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal in each financial year in which payments are estimated to be made.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The final cost of Horizon compensation will depend on the circumstances set out in individual claims. We are promising fair and equal treatment of postmasters, not a set amount of money. The amount we spend will depend on how many people come forward and the claims which are submitted.
The Government has to date committed a maximum of just over £1bn to ensure postmasters are compensated fairly. That is not a forecast: it is an estimate of the maximum Government funding which could be needed for compensation, which we have made in response to our obligation to make subsidies transparent.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for overturning the convictions of subpostmasters.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We will introduce primary legislation within a few weeks to quash convictions arising from the Horizon scandal.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which firms (a) based in China and (b) based outside China and with Chinese owners have been subject to restrictions on trade and investment under the (i) Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954, (ii) Export Control Act 2002, (iii) Export Control Order 2008, (iv) Procurement Act 2023, (v) Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 and (vi) National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
i. The Import of Goods (Control) Order 1954, together with licences made under it, do not make Chinese-origin firms the subject of any restrictions on trade and investment.
ii. Export controls apply to anyone exporting controlled items from the UK, regardless of country of origin. The Government assesses all export licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We will not licence the export of equipment where to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria.
iii. None. The Procurement Act is not due for commencement until Autumn 2024.
iv. Huawei
v. Eight final orders (which imposed conditions on, or blocked or unwound deals) issued involved acquirers linked to China. All notices of final orders are available on gov.uk.