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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the anticipated increased cost implications are for Post Office Limited in its dealing with serving Subpostmasters following the High Court decision handed down on 15 March 2019.

The courts are the right place to hear and resolve what are long-standing issues between some postmasters and the Post Office. This judgement relates to only the first trial and the outcome of the litigation will only be clear once the overall trial process is over. While this matter rests with the courts it is inappropriate for the Government to comment further. The legal defence of this litigation and the costs involved in doing so are being handled by Post Office Ltd, which operates as an independent, commercial business within the strategic parameters set by Government.