Contributions
612 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesSupport for postmasters and postmistresses is provided when needed as part of the compensation offer; for example, money to fund cognitive behavioural therapy. There are no…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank my noble friend for highlighting the case of Lee Castleton, which was well presented in the drama and is one of the most egregious of the cases before us. Like my noble…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank the noble Baroness for her question. Obviously, Northern Ireland has a separate legal system, as does Scotland. The legislation coming before the House is immediately…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank the noble Baroness for her question, which we have discussed in this House. It may not be in the Green Book specifically, but it is clearly in the Treasury’s books. The…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank the noble Lord for that. As far as parliamentary business is concerned, it is planned to have the legislation go through both Houses and have it all done by the Summer…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank my noble friend. I once again pay tribute to his continual scrutiny of this matter, and his vital role on the advisory committee. Currently, the compensation is directed…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank the noble Lord for that question. As I have said before from the Dispatch Box, there is help available as part of the compensation schemes for the claimants, to put their…04 Mar 2024HANSARDHorizon Scandal: Psychological Support ServicesI thank the noble Lord. He has detailed knowledge of his community, who serve us all so well, and who have suffered, in some cases, some terrible racism as well. The point we have…04 Mar 2024HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers BillThat the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 to 36, Schedule 1, Clauses 37 to 57, Schedule 2, Clauses 58 to 125,…04 Mar 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesAs I said, we are in a situation now where dialogue quite rightly is happening—and minuted, as always—between officials and representatives of Post Office Ltd. The appointment of…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesThat is a reasonable clarification. The clue is in the name “senior independent director”. The Department for Business and Trade was of the view that we should not be appointing…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesThis is very straight- forward. If I am appointed as the new chairman of a company in this situation and, of my three priorities, the No. 1 is to manage a legal process to get…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesI thank my noble friend Lord Arbuthnot. I will take the second one first: there are live conversations going on right now, at great speed, to finalise the legal process with the…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesOn the first point, I do not have the exact intricacies of which bank account the money sits in. I am happy to write about that, but it seems to me that if the Treasury and the…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesI absolutely agree that the Staunton issue is a distraction that none of us needs; it is certainly not in the interests of the postmasters and postmistresses, who want to see…21 Feb 2024HANSARDPost Office Governance and Horizon Compensation SchemesI can assure the noble Lord that that is exactly the objective. The words that have been used are about restoring all postmasters and postmistresses to the position they were in…21 Feb 2024HANSARDNational Minimum WageMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Question. The Government are increasing the national living wage by a record 10% in April this year to £11.44 per hour. This increase will…21 Feb 2024HANSARDNational Minimum WageI thank the noble Lord for that reminder. I think all of us in this place and the other place can be very proud of what has happened over the past 25 years on the minimum wage.…21 Feb 2024HANSARDNational Minimum WageI thank the noble Lord for that. We have record levels of employment in this country, with 33 million out of 66 million people working. Average public sector pay is £19 an hour…21 Feb 2024HANSARDNational Minimum WageI thank the noble Lord for that. There is a wage scale, as he will well know. For those aged 18-20, it is £8.60 an hour and for those under 18 it is £6.40 an hour, an apprentice…21 Feb 2024