Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

I have received the enclosed letter regarding the settlement funds for Postmasters:

Approval of Funds for Full & Final Settlement for Postmasters with Overturned Criminal Convictions

This House is aware of the distressing impact that problems with the Post Office’s Horizon IT system have had on the lives and livelihoods of many postmasters.

The Court of Appeal handed down a landmark judgment on 23 April 2021 which quashed the convictions of 39 postmasters whose prosecution had relied on Horizon evidence. 72 convictions have now been quashed to date, and several others are in progress. There are potentially hundreds more postmasters whose convictions have relied on Horizon evidence and may seek to have their convictions quashed.

We want to see these postmasters with quashed convictions compensated fairly and swiftly. So far, the vast majority of postmasters who have had their convictions quashed have each received an interim compensation payment of up to £100,000 while they wait for the next steps in the proceedings.

I am pleased to confirm that today the Government is making funding available to facilitate Post Office to make final compensation payments to postmasters whose convictions have been overturned. We are working with Post Office to finalise the arrangements that will enable the final settlement negotiations to begin as soon as possible. By providing this funding, Government is helping Post Office deliver the fair compensation postmasters deserve.

With the Secretary of State’s status as sole shareholder in the Post Office, my Department continues to engage actively with Post Office Limited on this and will maintain strong oversight of the compensation process.

 

I have received the enclosed update from Minister for Small Business, Consumers & Labour Markets about compensation Payments for Postmasters with Overturned criminal convictions.

Dear Colleagues,

I know members across the House are aware of the longstanding Horizon issues whereby postmasters were prosecuted and convicted on the basis of Horizon evidence that we now know to be unreliable. On 23 April 2021, the Court of Appeal handed down a landmark judgment which quashed the convictions of 39 postmasters. To date 72 postmasters have now had their historical convictions quashed.

I have been clear in Parliament that Government wants to see postmasters who were prosecuted and convicted on the basis of Horizon evidence fairly compensated as quickly as possible. I wrote to you in July 2021 to inform you that Government would be providing funding support to Post Office to make interim payments of up to £100,000 to eligible postmasters who have their convictions quashed. These payments are intended to provide postmasters with some financial relief in advance of full and final settlements being reached with them by Post Office.

As of 29 November, the Post Office has received 66 applications for interim payments. Of these, 62 offers have been made and 50 accepted and payments made. Payments made to date have all been for the maximum interim amount of £100,000.

I am also pleased to inform you of the steps Government is taking to facilitate the settlement of claims and the payment of compensation to the postmasters whose criminal convictions were based on Horizon data and have been quashed.

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in his capacity as sole shareholder in the Post Office, has agreed to make funding available to provide Post Office with the necessary resources to enable it to reach full and final settlements of compensation claims in a timely manner.

We are now working with Post Office to finalise the arrangements that will enable the final settlement negotiations to begin as soon as possible. The final settlement of claims for compensation is for Post Office and individual postmasters or their representatives to agree. It will involve claims being evidenced and quantified so that fair payments can be made providing postmasters with the compensation that they deserve.

My department continues to engage regularly with Post Office regarding its settlement of compensation claims. I am committed to seeing these longstanding Horizon issues resolved, learning what went wrong through the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, and ensuring something like this cannot happen again.

I have today notified the House of this decision in a Written Ministerial Statement, which you will find attached.

Yours ever,

PAUL SCULLY MP

Minister for Small Business, Consumers & Labour Markets

Minister for London

I have received the enclosed update from National Highways:

Dear Sir John,

M4 Junctions 3 to 12 motorway upgrade update

I am writing to update you on progress on the M4 Junctions 3 to 12 motorway upgrade project, part of which runs through your constituency, and to outline a recent milestone in the delivery of the scheme.

Since July 2018, we have been constructing four lanes in each direction between junctions 3 and 12 of the M4 motorway, with upgraded technology to make journeys more reliable.

Between Junctions 8/9 (Maidenhead) and 12 (Theale) all temporary restrictions have now been removed and this section of the M4 motorway upgrade is finished.

The key changes drivers will see are as follows:

• The M4 between junctions 8/9 and 12 is now operating at the national speed limit.
• There will be variable speed limits at certain times to smooth out traffic and tackle frustrating stop-start congestion.                             
• The hard shoulder has been converted to a new fourth traffic lane in each direction, boosting capacity by a third on this vital route between London, the south west and Wales.
• Between junctions 8/9 and 12, if drivers get into difficulty, they will be able to use one of 29 places to stop in an emergency, which include emergency areas.

The new radar Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) technology identifies a stopped vehicle, typically within 20 seconds, and provides an alert to our control room. At the same time, it can also automatically display a ‘report of obstruction’ message to warn oncoming drivers of a stopped vehicle ahead. Our operators then set a Red X sign to close one or more lanes, adjust speed limits and deploy traffic officers.

When the entire upgrade project between junction 3 and 12 is fully completed, there will be places to stop in an emergency approximately every 1.3 miles.

In October 2019, the Secretary of State for Transport asked the Department to carry out an evidence stocktake to gather the facts on the safety of smart motorways and make recommendations. A wide range of data was considered, and conclusions drawn on what the evidence told us about the safety of this type of motorway. This work is set out in the 2020 Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-motorway-evidence-stocktake-and-action-plan. 

We’ve been working with the Department for Transport to implement the actions from the stocktake, and in April of this year we published the Smart Motorways Stocktake first year progress report, setting out our progress in delivering the 2020 Action Plan, the latest evidence on the safety of smart motorways, and commitments we have made to accelerate measures.

On 2 November 2021 the Transport Select Committee (TSC) published the findings of its inquiry into the rollout and safety of smart motorways. We are absolutely committed to making smart motorways as safe as possible and we welcome the TSC’s scrutiny. We are considering the inquiry’s findings and recommendations in detail and working with the DfT to support them in the response that they will be making to the report.

Activity is continuing between junctions 3 and 8/9. Inevitably, a scheme of this size and complexity does have an impact on local residents and road users and we do our utmost to minimise this. We have a community relations team that deals with correspondence from residents and we liaise regularly with the local authority to discuss any issues of concern.

We continue to engage with local communities through parish councils, site visits, letters, newsletters and email updates. This will include notifications and dissemination of information on forthcoming work and the motorway closures. The latest information can be found on the project website at: https://www.nationalhighways.co.uk/m4j3to12.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Grant
Delivery Director, M4 Junctions 3 to 12 motorway upgrade

On Friday 19th November I visited the Holt School and heard a series of presentations about how to improve the environment. The students presented some good ideas to tackle litter, to plant more trees, to collect more rainwater, to grow more food locally, to reuse and recycle more and to offer more vegetarian options for school meals.

In the conversation with three of the students leading the initiative  we ranged widely over environmental issues, with particular attention to energy. I set out some of the background for them on current energy policy and how the UK generates its electricity before we went on to explore issues about combining interruptible renewables with other forms of power to keep the lights on.

On Sunday November 14 th civic leaders and representatives  met in the afternoon in  the Town Hall to lay wreaths on the indoors war memorial. We marched down to All Saints for a service with members of the Borough and Town Councils, and the uniformed services.

In the service there were touching memories of those who lost their lives in war, as we were invited to explore the power of love to overcome hatred and fighting.

On Sunday 14th November I joined the British legion in Arborfield for the march to the War memorial and for the service. I laid a wreath alongside others from local Councils and  the uniformed services. It was a poignant moment when the names of all those who died in the 1914-18 war were read out. it was too many young men from what then was a small rural village. We looked across at the green fields beyond the road to a glimpse of the  rural England they knew and would have kept in their hearts during the terror of the trenches.

On Friday 5th November I visited Evendons Primary School and gave a short talk on the role of an MP. The children asked a wide range of questions about Parliament and the role of an MP. They were particularly interested in environmental matters which I wrote about on my website the following day. I thank the Head for inviting me and for showing me the school, and wish the pupils well in their studies.

A number of constituents contacted me recently about the Environment Bill and the issue of storm overflows. I have now received the enclosed update from the Government:

Dear John

This Conservative government is the first government to set out our expectation that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows. We will now put that instruction on an enhanced legal footing.

The Environment Bill will allow us to deliver the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth. I am grateful for the scrutiny that you have provided to date, and I would like to address the issue of storm overflows. The amount of sewage discharge by water companies into our rivers is not acceptable. We have made it crystal clear to water companies that they must significantly reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows as a priority.

If we do not start to see significant improvements, we will not hesitate to take action through a swathe of new measures directly on water companies in the Environment Bill. None of us voted to allow water companies to pump sewage into our rivers as some campaigns have caricatured in recent days. We actually voted in favour of a package of measures to reduce harms from storm overflows including:

• a new duty directly on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, setting out how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over a minimum 25-year planning horizon, including how storm overflows will be addressed through these plans.

• a power of direction for the government to direct water companies in relation to the actions in these Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans. We will not hesitate to use this power of direction if plans are not good enough.

• a new duty on Government to produce a statutory plan to reduce discharges from storm overflows

• a requirement for government to produce a report setting out the actions that would be needed to eliminate discharges from storm overflows in England, and the costs and benefits of those actions. Both publications are required before 1 September 2022.

• a new duty directly on water companies and the Environment Agency to publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis.

• a new duty directly on water companies to publish near real time information on the operation of storm overflows.

• a new duty directly on water companies to monitor the water quality upstream and downstream of storm overflows and sewage disposal works.

Following the debate in the House of Commons last week, we have also announced that we will bolster the measures we are already taking.

In July of this year, this Government set out, for the first time ever, its expectation that Ofwat should incentivise water companies to invest to significantly reduce the use of storm overflows in the forthcoming pricing review period. Ofwat will be required to act in accordance with this expectation.

Our amendment will place this policy position in an additional clause in the Environment Bill to underline the action the government is taking. We are simply placing an existing statement in legislation. The reasons as to why we were unable to accept the Duke of Wellington’s well-intentioned amendment still stand. The complete elimination of discharges from storm overflows would be extremely challenging. Initial assessments suggest that total elimination would cost anywhere from £150 billion to £600 billion.

This process could involve the complete separation of sewerage systems, leading to potentially significant disruption for homes, businesses and infrastructure across the country. Customer bill increases, potentially amounting to many hundreds of pounds, and other trade-offs against other water industry priorities would be unavoidable. We need to understand what such trade-offs might be.

I have been very clear that water companies need to step up. Equally, we should acknowledge what they have done. Between 1990 and 2020 the water industry has invested about £30 billion in environmental improvement work, much of it to improve water quality in rivers.

A further £7.1 billion is planned to be invested between 2020 and 2025, of which £3.1 billion will be on storm overflows. Labour’s plans to renationalise water would have rendered this investment impossible, whilst passing an additional cost of £90 billion to our constituents.

Yours sincerely,

Rebecca Pow

I have received the enclosed update from the Government:

Dear John

I am writing to you following publication of Our plan for improving access for patients and supporting general practice.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank our GPs for the outstanding work they’ve done during the most difficult 18 months in living memory. Throughout the pandemic, General Practice was forced to adapt in order to continue delivering care to our communities, keep vital services going and put millions of jabs in arms.

As we emerge from the pandemic it is vital that we continue to support General Practice teams to provide the best possible care to patients. I’m determined to ensure that patients are able to see their GP in the way they want, no matter where they live. The plan we have announced today is a statement of recovery and reform, not just for this winter but for the years to come.

We are investing £250m in a Winter Access Fund to improve the availability of GP practices and increase the number of face-to-face appointments, while also investing in technology to make it easier for patients to see or speak to their GP. Although the latest data shows that there are 1,200 more full time equivalent GPs serving our communities than there were two years ago, we will not be complacent when it comes to our recruitment efforts.

Last year a record-breaking number of doctors started training as GPs, and we’re committed to further increasing the number of training places to 4,000 a year. We will draw on our fantastic community pharmacists and their teams through greater use of the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, allowing them to use their expertise to advise and treat more patients, freeing up more of GPs valuable time to look after patients.

The UK Health Security Agency has carried out a review of Covid control measures for GPs and primary care providers, and has published recommendations which will further enable face to face consultations, where it is safe to do so.

We’re making practices more accountable to the communities they serve by automatically sending patients a message following their appointment to give them the opportunity to rate their experiences of accessing support. GP appointment data will also be published at a practice level by spring next year, with the NHS increasing its oversight of practices with the most acute access issues.

We know how challenging the past 18 months have been for GPs and their teams, including the disgraceful incidences of staff facing abuse and violence while trying to do their jobs.

This Government has zero tolerance for this utterly unacceptable behaviour. To support practices we are providing £5m of capital funding for them to invest in extra security measures.

Our plan recognises that General Practice is the cornerstone of our NHS, and demonstrates this Government’s commitment to helping staff deliver for patients. The full plan can be found here: Coronavirus » Our plan for improving access for patients and supporting general practice (england.nhs.uk)

Yours ever,

SAJID JAVID
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

I visited Floreat Montague on Friday 24 September. I met and talked to a number of pupils, and was hosted by the Chairman of the Board John Hutt and the Headteacher, Patrick Pritchett. Councillor Gregor Murray from the local ward who is also a parent joined the visit.

There was an initial discussion about raising standards and the ethos of the school. I praised the use of synthetic phonics as the best way of encouraging good reading and writing at an early age. I also discussed the way project work around stated themes or tasks can be used to allow pupils in a class of varied abilities to participate fully and achieve good outcomes. I was pleased to see the school’s emphasis on kindness and engaging with all pupils.

During the tour of the school a couple of boys were energetic in their enthusiasm for football, and most engaging over opportunities for them to play and to follow Premier League teams. There was a Question and answer session with four of the older pupils selected for the task of interviewing me . I asked them to comment on what they most liked about their school, on what improvement they would like to see and which lessons or activities engaged them the most. The pupils asked about electric cars, charger points, plastic waste in the oceans, sustainability and cycleways. I explained government policy and my own thoughts in line with the views set out on this website.

I was grateful for the welcome to Floreat Montague, and pleased to talk to pupils about their lives in the school and about their interest in issues affecting the local community and the wider world. I wish the school every success as it expands, completes its exciting history mural project and enriches the lives of all pupils who pass through.