Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing wrongly convicted applicants to the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme with the £600,000 fixed-sum award as an upfront payment.

The Government remains committed to providing full and fair redress to those affected by the Horizon scandal.

In Volume 1 of the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry report, Sir Wyn Williams noted that he could not be convinced 'that the Fixed Sum Offer should, in effect, become a guaranteed minimum payment'. The Department agrees with Sir Wyn and believes it is important to retain the distinction between interim payments and a final settlement. A settlement is the final, total compensation amount agreed upon to resolve a claim, whereas an interim payment is an early, partial payment made before the claim process fully concludes.

The interim payment policy is designed to provide claimants with breathing space, and a meaningful opportunity to consider whether a full assessment would be beneficial to them.