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Norman Lamb MP.
Stephen Hepburn MP Our ref: 285479
House of Commons Your ref
London
SW1A OAA
March 2012
Thank you for your letter of 24 February on behalf of your constituent, Mrs
I Riddell of East Boldon Post Office, ' 1]
i _iwho has expressed concern about the Horizon computer system
used across the post office network.
I should however first explain that issues relating to the integrity of the Horizon
system and decisions and actions taken in the context of their contractual
relationships with subpostmasters are operational matters and are therefore
the responsibility of the management of Post Office Ltd (POL). The
Government, as shareholder, does not a play role in these issues.
In your letter you set out Mrs Riddell’s concerns that the financial
discrepancies identified in audits at East Boldon Post Office were attributable
to problems with the Post Office’s Horizon computer system. I am advised
that formally Mrs Riddell’s husband is the designated subpostmaster at their
_branch but that Mrs Riddell has been managing the business for some time as
POL is fully confident that the Horizon system used in all branches enables
subpostmasters to account accurately for the transactions they undertake in
their branches. The system has been operating for over 10 years. Over that
time, some twenty thousand subpostmasters have performed many millions of
successful weekly and monthly reconciliations between the cash they have in
the office and the transactions they have handled. The Horizon system has
been rigorously tested both in daily use and in external scrutiny and
accreditation. The National Federation of Subpostmasters, which represents
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subpostmasters across the country, has also expressed its full confidence in
the accuracy and robustness of the system.
In the small fraction of cases where the subpostmaster has not been able to
reconcile their cash and transactions, there are tried and tested systems of
checking, auditing and following up to establish what has happened. These
checks resolve virtually all discrepancies satisfactorily, identifying them as the
small day to day mistakes and human errors which are typical in any banking
or retail environment.
In the extremely small number of cases where missing sums cannot be
accounted for and the amounts are significant, POL will make further
investigations as to the cause. Large amounts of public money are entrusted
to post offices and it is vital that all of it is fully accounted for. If significant
money is missing as a result lack of sufficient competence by the
subpostmaster or their staff, or, in very rare cases, as a result of dishonesty,
POL may feel it necessary to suspend the subpostmaster in line with the
provisions of their contract, as in Mr and Mrs Riddell’s case, to review matters
further. Following a period of suspension, Mr Riddell was formally reinstated
as subpostmaster last November on the basis that changes to a number of
management procedures and operational arrangements that POL had
previously proposed, were immediately implemented and I understand that
since then the financial discrepancy problems have ceased.
NORMAN LAMB MP