Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support sub-postmasters seeking to overturn criminal convictions relating to the Horizon IT scandal.

The Government is keen to see that all postmasters whose convictions are overturned are fairly compensated as quickly as possible and will work with Post Office towards this goal. Amounts of compensation will be settled by Post Office engaging with individual claimants or their representatives.

Postmasters seeking to have their convictions quashed must apply directly through the Courts before compensation payments can be made. Post Office is working with the Courts and the CCRC to progress appeals as quickly as possible.

The Government is providing the funding required for Post Office to support settlements with postmasters whose convictions have been quashed. This funding includes making interim compensation payments of up to £100,000 to all eligible postmasters who were wrongly convicted. So far, 66 postmasters have received offers for interim payments, and as of the time of writing, all but one of these have been paid.