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FROM: PETER SCHOFIELD
DATE : 23 February 1999
EXTN : [GRo}
ROOM: 25/G
STEVE ROBSON cc: Harry Bush
Adrian Montague
Sarah Mullen
BA/POCL: MEETING WITH ICL
You and I met Christou and Hancock (Hambros) on 19 February.
2. ICL had asked for the meeting, expressing concem that they had not heard anything
since their previous meeting with us on 1 February. You indicated that you expected to know
shortly whether Ministers were prepared to give the amber light to further discussions on the
new option.
3. Christou said he was still concerned that the Benefits Agency had stopped work on the
multi-benefit part of the project. He said he suspected that this was because the Benefits
Agency were running behind schedule on the CAPS project - he noted that the Benefits
Agency had delayed procuring from ICL some of the hardware required for this project.
4. There was a brief discussion about the next steps, should Ministers decide to proceed
with the new option. Christou said that he would like to take staff off the development of the
BPC to focus on the new approach. However, he would give some thought to how ICL might
keep open the option of returning to the Benefit Payment Card should the new approach prove
impracticable (although he was pretty sure that it would be).
52 Christou said that the major urgency for him was that his auditors would ask him to
make provision for the costs of developing the BPC if there was no more certainty over the
project by the end of March. He said that Fujitsu would probably use this as an opportunity
to pull the plug on the project and look to their legal rights. If we go down the new
approach, he said that he would look to the Government to provide him some form of cover
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for the abortive BPC costs. You replied that the presumption should be that ICL should bear
the same NPV loss as they were prepared to take in December.
6. Finally, there was a discussion on handling the Post Office. Christou said that he
thought Stuart Sweetman (POCL) trusted him, and it might make sense for Christou to be
present when POCL are told about the new approach.
PETER SCHOFIELD
PEP
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