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Message
From: Caroline Edgar
Sent: 09/07/2013 10:
To:
George Pascoe-Watson
ce: Lesley J Sewell GRO J; Mark R
; Susan Crichton
Subject: RE: Q&A on bugs and defects
Hi Ruth,
This looks good to us, sets out the context clearly.
All the best
Caroline
From: Ruth X Barker!
Sent: 09 July 2013 11:17
To: George Pascoe-Watson; Caroline Edgar; Oliver Pauley
Cc: Hugh Flemington; Lesley ] Sewell; Mark R Davies; Nina Arnott; Susan Crichton
Subject: Q&A on bugs and defects
Hi All
I've amended and strengthened this Q&A as to fully explain you really need to put into context.
I've run this past Lesley and she is happy with the content. Could you get back asap with your views.
Ruth
There appears to be bugs and defects in the system. Is this what the report found?
For background when handling and to be drawn upon.
No these headlines are misleading/this is not the case. These anomalies were not part of the 47 cases accepted by
Second Sight, or part of the 4 which they were investigating as part of the interim review.
As part of the investigation we voluntarily provided information on two anomalies involving a receipts/payments mismatch
and historic accounting entries affecting less than 100 transactions
With a system of the scale of Horizon, processing over 6 million transactions a day it is not material that these anomalies
have occurred. What is important is that we have systems in place to identify and rectify them and have ensured that
these instances were communicated to the subpostmasters involved. We have been fully transparent in informing the sub
postmasters involved and in volunteering this information to be part of the independent review.
We welcome the conclusion of this interim report that there are no systemic issues with the Horizon system. Our people
are extremely important to us and we take the concerns raised by these sub postmasters very seriously. To put the
concerns into context, there are 68,000 people using the Horizon system in over 11,500 branches transacting over 6
million transactions a day. There were 47 cases for review of which the independent review has so far investigated 4 as
part of this interim report -they felt these best represented the issues raised in the 47 cases. The 47 cases represent less
than 0.1% of the people using the system
Comment:
The report found that the Horizon computer system operates effectively and we were right to have confidence in it. As
part of the investigation we voluntarily provided information on two anomalies involving a receipts/payments mismatch and
historic accounting entries affecting less than 100 transactions in a system which processes over 1,500 transactions every
second.
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Both of these anomalies were found by the Post Office and voluntarily communicated to the independent review
company. Modifications were made to rectify these issues and all sub postmasters involved have been informed of
this. These anomalies do not form part of any of the 47 cases being considered and none of the subpostmasters involved
have been prosecuted, nor did this lead to any financial disadvantage for them.
We have been fully transparent both in informing the subpostmasters and also in volunteering this information to be part
of the independent reviews.
It appears it took you a year to identify and rectify one of these anomalies?
The important thing is that the 14 transactions involved in this anomalie were identified and rectified and that the
subpostmasters involved were informed. We have been fully transparent both in informing the subpostmasters and also
in volunteering this information to the be part of the independent review.
We have been fully transparent both in informing the subpostmasters and also in volunteering this information to be part
of the independent review. This anomalie does not form part of any of the 47 cases being considered and none of the sub
postmasters involved have been prosecuted, nor did this lead to any financial disadvantage for them.
Ruth Barker
Post Office Press Office
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