Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 help restore post offices that closed as a result of Horizon programme failures.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
To address the Horizon scandal, the Government is focused on ensuring justice for those wrongly convicted and delivering financial compensation to all those affected.
In parallel, the Post Office has the freedom to deliver the branch network within the parameters Government sets. As such, Government does not intervene in decisions relating to managing the branch network at a local level.
More broadly, the post office network is not in decline and in fact, more post offices opened last year than closed, and the network is as large today as it has been for five years.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has plans to strengthen the accountability of Post Office senior managers through the Government's shareholder role.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Following the Group Litigation Order court case, the Government has taken steps to strengthen the governance of the Post Office. This has included expanding the Department’s Post Office Policy team that works closely with UK Government Investments (UKGI) in advising Ministers on holding the Post Office to account.
The Government has also strengthened and formalised the respective responsibilities of the Post Office, Government and UKGI through a Framework Document published in 2020. The Government also maintains strong oversight of the progress made on resolving issues related to Horizon and will continue to hold the Post Office to account for learning relevant lessons and making tangible changes to the organisation.
The recent issue surrounding senior bonuses at Post Office highlighted a number of corporate governance issues which were the subject of the review undertaken by Simmons and Simmons and published in August 2023. The review made a number of important findings and recommendations, which Post Office accepted in full. The implementation of these recommendations is a priority and Government is monitoring Post Office’s progress closely.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of bringing The Post Office under public ownership.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Post Office Limited is under public ownership.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has plans to compensate businesses that have experienced significant disruption to trading as a result of flooding.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Business Recovery Grant (BRG), part of the Flooding Framework, provides up to £2500 per affected business premises to small and medium sized businesses in the immediate aftermath of flooding to help them get back on their feet.
This support was provided in October 2023 in response to Storm Babet and those affected by Storm Henk interested in the BRG should contact their Local Authority for details.
Businesses significantly affected by recent flooding could also be eligible for business rates relief via schemes delivered by DLUHC and via DEFRA schemes.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of procurement processes used at The Post Office.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
As a public sector organisation Post Office is bound by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. In addition, as set out in the Shareholder Relationship Framework Document published by Government in 2020, Post Office’s Chief Executive Officer is expected to observe the principles set out by HM Treasury in Managing Public Money.
Post Office’s procurement policy is reviewed regularly by the Post Office Board and the Board scrutinises procurements that are high-value or novel and/or contentious.
The Government has mechanisms in place to maintain oversight of the Post Office and regularly monitors Post Office's financial performance, strategy and corporate governance. In addition, as per the Articles of Association Post Office requires the prior written consent of the Shareholder for any undertaking to incur any expenditure in excess of £50 million.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much and what proportion of her Department's capital grants to local authorities have been spent on internal (a) administration and (b) other management costs in each financial year since 2015-16.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
The Department provided local authorities with funding to offer emergency support to eligible businesses in their areas during the Covid-19 pandemic. This support covered the 2020-22 period with £26bn of grant support funding provided.
Local authorities were provided with New Burdens payments totalling £210 million to cover the costs of delivering this support as well as post payment reconciliation and any required recovery activity. This equates to less than one per cent of the grant award payments paid to businesses.
A breakdown of payments made is provided in the table below:
Financial Year | Amount paid to Local Authorities (£millions) | Cumulative Total (£millions) |
2020-2021 | 72 | 72 |
2021-2022 | 127 | 199 |
2022-2023 | 11 | 210 |
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will commission research into the causes of e-cycle battery fires.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
During the Summer my department, through the Office for Product Safety and Standards, commissioned new research into the types of batteries used in e-bikes (lithium-ion batteries) from Warwick Manufacturing Group – which is part of the University of Warwick.
The research is looking at the root causes of such fires so that evidence driven, targeted and effective action can be taken to tackle the issue.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she is taking steps to help encourage people to enter careers in the (a) hospitality and (b) retail sectors.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We regularly meet with businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors to identify and address skills needs. Immediate support includes: £900m annually for dedicated Work Coaches, adding hospitality and catering qualifications to the Free Courses for Jobs (part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee).
A new employment scheme, The Hospitality Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP), has also been launched to upskill and match jobseekers with hospitality roles. Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training and retention.
The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail - The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will have discussions with representatives of the hospitality and retail sectors on the opportunities provided for their workers to develop leadership skills.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
We regularly meet with businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors to identify and address skills needs.
Through the Hospitality Sector Council, we are working with businesses to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, training, and retention.
The Retail Sector Council recently published a discussion document, Retail – The Great Enabler, inviting comments on the key challenges for the sector including skills and employment.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether UK manufactured arms have been sold to Israel in the last (a) 10 years, (b) five years and (c) one year.
Answered by Greg Hands
HM Government publishes Official Statistics on export licences granted, refused, and revoked to all destinations: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data. Currently this includes information up to 31st March 2023.
A licence being granted does not mean that an export takes place. Some licences may expire unused, and others may expire after only partial use. Some licences may also be revoked or suspended.