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POL00102600
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
E paula.vennellst
The Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A OAA
2 July 2014
Dear James
Further to my letter of June 12 about providing MPs with an update on the progress of the
Mediation Scheme, I have consulted with the Chair of the Working Group. As we all agree, it would
not be appropriate to release confidential information relating to individual cases, but I attach at
Annex A an update about progress of the Scheme, agreed by Sir Anthony, which could be
circulated to MPs,
The focus is very much on enabling cases to move through the process as quickly as possible,
whilst maintaining a thorough, fair and consistent approach. We would therefore be unable to give
more information in a meeting with MPs than the overview of the Scheme’s progress provided
below.
I hope this is helpful.
Paula Vennells
Chief Executive
www. postoffice.co.uk
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Annex A
Scheme Update (as provided by Sir Anthony Hooper, Chair of the Initial Complaints Review and
Mediation Scheme)
In total, 150 applications have been made to the Scheme. Of those, 4 were rejected as ineligible
under the terms of the Scheme.
As of the 24th June:
® 11 cases have been resolved prior to mediation
e Past Office has completed 30 investigations
e The Working Group is awaiting 29 Case Questionnaire Responses from applicants or their
advisers
e Second Sight have completed 8 case reviews
e 2cases have been passed to CEDR, the independent mediators for the Scheme, to arrange
mediation.
There have unfortunately been delays in the pragress of the Scheme. It has taken longer than
anticipated to retrieve the information required to investigate the cases.
in addition, the Working Group has had to give applicants more opportunity than originally
anticipated to clarify their Case Questionnaire Responses and to comment upon Post Office and
Second Sight reports. This has the advantage that if a case reaches the mediation stage it should
require little further input from applicants.
Each week the Working Group discusses the progress of the Scheme and tries to ensure as speedy
a resolution as possible. I