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2,186 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI cannot give a particular commitment, but what I can say is that the Prime Minister is personally exercised by this, which is why we met some postmasters last summer. I was…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsFirst, I apologise, Mr Speaker, for the misunderstanding. I was prepared to make a statement, but obviously the current situation and affairs have got in the way. I am happy to…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsAs I say, we have made good progress on interim payments. If my hon. Friend’s constituents have not applied for or received their interim compensation of up to £100,000, will he…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI ask the hon. Gentleman to pass on my heartfelt sympathies to Della for what she has been through. This is exactly why we set up the inquiry. My Department has said from the…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank the hon. Lady, and I sympathise and empathise with everything she said. I know that for everybody affected, whether the 555 or those who were not prosecuted but lost…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank my hon. Friend for his work in the campaign for both his constituent and for many other sub-postmasters across the country, and I thank the right hon. Member for North…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsMy heartfelt thoughts go out to Rubbina Shaheen and her family. That is exactly why those who were convicted had the £100,000 interim compensation: to ensure that they could go a…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI agree with everything the hon. Gentleman said. What he says about individual MPs doing amazing work goes to the heart of the early part of the problem, when all the…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank my hon. Friend for the work she does on behalf of Tracy Felstead and others. Tracy’s case is one that I often hold up as someone who was so young that she has spent more…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsThat is why the Post Office has an independent panel to oversee the process. So there is independence. On the interim payments for the 555, they are there for overturned…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank my hon. Friend for that question; my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Duncan Baker) said much the same sort of thing. I set up the inquiry with Sir Wyn Williams…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI will certainly continue to look at it. We want to encourage people to go through such things as the alternative dispute resolution so that we do not need to have prolonged cases…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsMy hon. Friend brings to the House his experience of being a sub-postmaster and of the social value of the post office in his area. He is absolutely right; we have asked people to…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words at the beginning of his question. He outlines the complexity of what we need to do and what the Post Office needs to do to right this…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI want to make sure that everybody comes before the inquiry to give evidence and feels confident in doing so, so I do not want to impose my opinions at this stage about who did…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI can quote the Francis Urquhart line back at my right hon. Friend, but any pressure will be gratefully received. The last two years of covid have been about learning to speed up…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI thank my hon. Friend for all the work she does on protecting whistleblowers. As I say, I want to make sure we can get fair justice and compensation for everybody involved. That…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI reiterate my thanks to the right hon. Gentleman for the work he has done for Tom Brown and all the postmasters. There is no single blockage in the Treasury. We are trying to…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsMy heart goes out to Alison and Richard. Absolutely. Post offices offer not just economic value. Having more branches than banks and building societies put together has a social…24 Feb 2022HANSARD Post Office: Horizon Compensation ArrangementsI believe from my Twitter feed that my hon. Friend is meeting Nicola Arch tomorrow—Nicola and I have those exchanges. Again, my heart goes out to Nicola, because being spat at and…24 Feb 2022