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HANSARDBusiness and TradeThe provisions apply specifically to traders to consumers, not traders to businesses. On how we determine the exemptions, such as for magazines, delivery services, gyms, software…20 Jul 2023HANSARDBusiness and TradeThe CEO and chair of the CMA regularly appear before the relevant Select Committee—five times as the hon. Member said. Most recently, they appeared before the House of Lords…20 Jul 2023HANSARDBusiness and TradeThe provisions apply specifically to traders to consumers, not traders to businesses. On how we determine the exemptions, a range of stakeholders, including regulators, businesses…20 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI thank my hon. Friend for the points in his question, and we absolutely agree that we need to accelerate compensation payments. As I say, we have made significant progress on the…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationOn pulling out all the stops, I could not agree more, and that is definitely what we are doing in the Department. My days are never without one or other post office issue, which…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationThe hon. Lady is one of the Members of Parliament I engage with more often than not in this place and she does a fantastic job, not least in chairing the all-party parliamentary…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationThe hon. Gentleman raises an interesting point, as does Sir Wyn Williams, and we are looking at that recommendation carefully. It is our intention that everybody who has been…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI dealt with that question a second or two ago. It is right that the presumption of innocence is followed until proven otherwise, and the Williams inquiry is looking at Fujitsu’s…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI thank the right hon. Member for his question and his tireless campaigning on this issue. I am also grateful to Sir Wyn Williams for his work and for publishing his interim…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his work. He is right to say that there are three schemes, which might be described as suboptimal. As Sir Wyn has said on this…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI thank the hon. Member for his work in challenging us in this area. I would probably push back a bit. It is complicated to assess loss. Both I and the right hon. Member for North…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationThose decisions are made by others, not by me, so I cannot comment on those specific cases. The hon. Lady raises an interesting point. To be fair, in this country people are still…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for speaking out about this matter on a number of occasions. One of my constituents—Sam Harrison of Nawton near Helmsley—passed away prior to…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question, and I am happy to look at any specific cases. If she is talking about those who are bankruptcy claimants, Sir Wyn in his report…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationWe certainly agree with that, and we should leave it to the Williams inquiry to establish who knew what when, and what could have been done earlier, and hold those people to…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI add my thanks to the advisory board and the right hon. Member for North Durham, but also to Lord Arbuthnot—who is a tremendous campaigner in this area—and other individuals such…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationCertainly, we have learned the lesson in this place to heed those warnings more quickly. I am sure the new management of the Post Office have seen what has gone wrong, and we are…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI agree, and we are determined to play our part in that of course. I was very grateful for the report and I have read the recommendations. Clearly, there is a lot of detail in the…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationAgain, I know my hon. Friend was one of the key campaigners on this particular issue. I cannot speak for previous Ministers—although I have a great regard for my immediate…18 Jul 2023HANSARDPost Office Horizon IT Scandal: CompensationI am grateful to my hon. Friend for his work on this issue. He is right: 62 people have passed away while awaiting compensation. It is simply unacceptable. My Department is…18 Jul 2023