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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the scope of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry will include investigation of those who took the decision to conduct private prosecutions against sub-postmasters.

I announced to the House on 19 May 2021 that the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry would be put on a statutory footing on 1 June 2021. At the same time, I made a written ministerial statement with the revised Terms of Reference for the Inquiry. That statement can be found at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-05-19/hcws40

The Inquiry’s revised Terms of Reference have been clarified to make clear that the Inquiry can investigate the Post Office’s decision-making in pursuing the prosecution of Postmasters in relation to Horizon.