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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the statement of 27 June 2022 by the chair of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry on the Department's application for a restriction order, for what reason the restriction order was requested.

We are fully committed to enabling the Inquiry to get to the bottom of the Horizon scandal so it can set out exactly what went wrong. Ministers and senior civil servants are responsible and accountable for policy, and we have therefore asked that the Inquiry redact the names of junior civil servants that appear in documents we provide if they have not had a decision-making role. This request is consistent with the approach adopted by the department when handling matters covered by the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act.

The Department’s definition of a junior civil servant is those at Grades 6 and 7, Senior Executive Officer (“SEO”), Higher Executive Officer (“HEO”), Executive Officer (“EO”) or Administrative Officer/Assistant levels.