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Response to BEIS batch 1 - request for information
1. Request from the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
Timeline of appointments
Please could you assist the Inquiry by providing a list of all BEIS Ministers and senior
officials (including Permanent Secretary, Director General and Director level) who have had
responsibility for the Post Office Limited, this is to include personnel/staff at UK Government
Investment (UKGI) Board members.
e Please can this cover the last 10 years — 2010 — 2020.
2. Response from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
(BEIS) and UK Government Investments (UKGI)
2.1 Ministers
2.1.1 Secretaries of State
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Rt Hon Sir Vincent Cable: 2010 — 2015
Rt Hon Sajid Javid: 2015 — 2016
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Rt Hon Greg Clark: 2016 — 2019
Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom: 2019 — 2020
Rt Hon Alok Sharma: 2020 — Present
2.1.2 Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)
Rt Hon Sir Edward Davey: 2010 — 2012
Rt Hon Norman Lamb: 2012 — 2012
Jo Swinson: 2012 — 2013; 2014 - 2015
Jenny Willott (Maternity Cover to Jo Swinson): 2013 — 2014
Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe: 2015 — 2016
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Margot James: 2016 — 2018
Andrew Griffiths: 2018 — 2018
Kelly Tolhurst: 2018 — 2020
Paul Scully: 2020 — Present
2.2 Officials
The officials listed in this section have had responsibility for Post Office Limited (POL) over
the past ten years (2010-2020). The below timeline sets out the context for their roles.
Substantive responsibility for POL governance and policy were both with ShEx and then
UKGI until 2018, when policy responsibility moved to BEIS. BEIS responsibility for POL
2016-2018 at Director General level was therefore primarily focussed on Finance.
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2010-2016: The Shareholder Executive (ShEx) within BEIS was responsible for POL,
reporting to the BEIS Permanent Secretary.
2016: ShEx replaced by UKGI. Separate DG-level responsibility for POL introduced in BEIS.
2018: The Post Office Policy Sponsor function was established in BEIS, which introduced
Director and DG-level responsibility for Post Office policy in BEIS.
2.2.1 UKGI and ShEx
Please see a list of ShEx/UKGI* senior employees who were appointed as the HMG
representative Non-Executive director for Post Office Limited from April 2012 when it
became independent of the Royal Mail Group.
Susannah Storey: April 2012 — March 2014**
Richard Callard: April 2014 — March 2018
Tom Cooper: March 2018 — Present
* Until 1st April 2016 ShEx was part of BIS, but after that date UKG/ became operational as
a company owned by HMT and took over the functions of ShEx, with ShEx staff transferring
to the new entity.
** The first HMG representative NED to the newly formed POL Board in April 2012,
Susannah Storey was an employee of ShEx and then appointed to DECC in March 2013. All
subsequent HMG NED appointees were from ShEx/UKGI and also performed the head of
shareholder team role.
In addition, the following ShEx/UKGI senior employees acted as head of the shareholder
team between 2010-2020:
Oliver Griffiths: July 2009 — September 2011
Will Gibson: September 2011 — December 2013
Richard Callard: January 2014 — January 2018
Tom Cooper: January 2018 — present, supported by three UKGI senior employees within
the shareholder team over this period;
(a) Richard Callard: January 2018 — May 2018
(b) Tom Aldred: May 2018 — February 2020
(c) Tim McInnes: February 2020 — Present
2.2.2 BEIS officials
Permanent Secretaries
Martin Donnelly: 2010 — 2016
Alex Chisholm: 2016 — 2020
Sam Beckett (acting): 2020 - 2020
Sarah Munby: 2020 — present
Directors General
Howard Orme: 2016 (note: now deceased)
Angie Ridgwell: 2016 — 2018
Gareth Davies: 2018 — 2019
Gavin Lambert (acting): 2019
Sarah Munby: 2019 — 2020
Mike Keoghan (acting): 2020 — present
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Directors
Gavin Lambert: 2018 — 2019
Carl Creswell: 2019 — present