Chamber and committees

On 22 February, the Under-Secretary of State for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business stated that the UK Government would introduce legislation to reverse only the convictions of sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses convicted in courts in England and Wales. This followed the Scottish Government making clear on 10 January in a letter from the First Minister to the Prime Minister that UK-wide legislation would be the appropriate response to this issue. The position of the Scottish Government was also made in further letters from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs.

Following the UK Government announcement on 22 February, I wrote to the Minister the following day to make clear that the Scottish Government remained of the view that the best way to ensure a solution that treats all affected sub-postmasters across the United Kingdom equitably is for the Westminster Parliament to legislate to overturn the convictions of those affected across the whole of the UK, and asking the UK Government to reconsider its approach on this matter.

On 13 March, the UK Government introduced its Bill to reverse the convictions of affected sub-postmasters and post office employees convicted in courts in England and Wales. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations on 14 March urging him to make good on the commitment he made at the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee on 12 March to consider extending the Bill to cover convictions in courts in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

This reflects the fact that the cause of these wrongful convictions, wherever they occurred, is the defective Post Office Horizon IT system and the failure of the Post Office to disclose relevant information about it to prosecutors.

However, if the UK Government maintains its position that it will legislate only to reverse convictions of sub-postmasters convicted in England and Wales, we will introduce legislation in the Scottish Parliament to reverse the convictions of affected sub-postmasters in Scotland. Any such Bill will have to be passed after the equivalent UK Bill to ensure that the approach is compatible with the approach taken in the UK Bill and sub-postmasters convicted in Scotland whose convictions are reversed can access the Horizon compensation scheme operated by the UK Government.

Scottish Government officials are continuing to engage with UK Government officials on this matter.