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. Sunt 24/02 1 Post Oifice Limited
148 Old Street
I LONDON
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I Confidential
Mr Frazer Stuart
Criminal Cases Review Commission
5 St Philip's Place
Birmingham
B3 2PW
27 February 2015
‘SF 2181 3114 3GB
Dear Mr Stuart
Criminal Cases Review Commission ("Commission")
Horizon Computer System — Requirement to Produce Materials
Thank you for your letter dated 12 February 2015, which responded to our letter dated 11 February
2015.
In our letter, we sought clarification of the functions which the Commission is seeking to exercise, and
how and why the Commission considers it reasonable to require POL to produce material in its
exercise of those functions, in connection with your notice to Post Office Limited (POL) sent pursuant
to s17 Criminal Appeal Act (CAA).
Thank you for the explanation of the Commission's powers set out in your letter. 1 assume that no
convicted subpostmaster has yet applied to the Commission to refer his/her case for review, based on
the statements in your letter that an application by a convicted person is not a pre requisite for a
Commission investigation, and that one of the Commission’s objectives in seeking the requested
material is "to identify the individuals that may be affected by the Horizon issues and assess the
safety of any convictions". I would however be grateful for your specific confirmation that my
assumption is correct.
In either event, as stated in my 11 February 2015 letter, POL wishes to work with the Commission in
this matter. In the spirit of that cooperation, POL responds to your notice as follows:
1. In relation to the first requirement, I enclose a copy of Brian Altman QC's report dated 15
October 2013, without in any way waiving legal professional privilege therein. That privilege
belongs to POL and does not extend to anyone beyond POL and its professional legal
advisors. Please also specifically note that given the privileged nature of Mr Altman QC's
report, POL requires that the Commission does not disclose the report or any information in
the report to any other party without POL's prior written consent pursuant to s25 CAA.
2. Inrelation to the second requirement, you will see that the report makes a number of findings
and recommendations (e.g. in the Executive Summary at paragraph 5). I am conscious that
providing "an updated summary of the decisions and actions taken by the Post Office as a
result of Brian Altman QC's report or copies of the documents recording those decisions and
actions" on all of the findings and recommendations would take some time to pull together,
but may not actually address the issues you want to investigate. Could I therefore suggest
you identify for us those findings and recommendations which are pertinent to your
investigation, and we could respond on those?
www. postoffice.co.uk ’
’
Post Office Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540. Registered Office 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HO.
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Ltd.
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148 Old Street
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Confidential
3. In relation to the third requirement, I can confirm that, as stated in my letter dated 11 February
2015, POL is continuing to preserve all materials reviewed by the external specialist criminal
law solicitors as part of the prosecution case review considered by Mr Altman QC, and also all
material considered as part of the scheme set up by POL to investigate individual complaints
about Horizon. I trust this is acceptable, at least until such time as any specific “affected
cases” have been identified through the Commission's investigations, but please let me know
if otherwise.
I hope that the above further demonstrates POL’s willingness to work with the Commission, and I
remain available to discuss with you the best way to progress matters. In the meantime, POL
continues to reserve all of its legal rights in this matter.
Yours sincerely
Jane MacLeod
General Counsel
Post Office Limited
Enc.
www. postoffice.co,uk
Post Office Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered No, 2154540, Registered Office 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HO.
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Ltd.
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lam also concerned at the size of some of the claims for compensation, many of which are
unrealistic or opportunistic or both. Especially in the absence of evidence of a fault with the Horizon
system, this sort of claim can only serve to weaken the prospects for resolution for the applicants. .
Whilst Post Office is keeping an open mind to all possibilities for resolution, with compensation
being one, the Scheme is not and has never been a compensation scheme. Whilst I realise that
speculation about Horizon continues, Post Office must base its position on substance and facts and
the need to ensure it spends taxpayer money prudently.
However, I can assure you that where the facts and the applicants’ expectations offer a reasonable
chance of resolution, the Post Office has and will continue to enter into those discussions positively
and try to achieve a mutually acceptable resolution.
lalso believe that the success or otherwise of the Scheme does not rest solely with Post Office. It
seems that, despite the agreement of all parties on the need for confidentiality, that commitment is
not being honored and this has the potential to undermine the Scheme. Similarly it is regrettable,
as you say, that JFSA is not now fully participating in Working Group discussions as it undermines the
role of the Working Group which it played such a key part in establishing.
Given that some people may have been expecting that a fault with Horizon would be found it is
perhaps not surprising that they may be disappointed. However, in view of the considerable effort
Post Office has gone to in establishing, funding and supporting a Scheme that JFSA and Second Sight
helped to design, I am naturally disappointed to hear the concerns you set out. However I am
confident that Post Office has, at every stage of the process, acted in good faith in taking forward
the work of the Scheme. Indeed, it is not at all clear to me what more Post Office could reasonably
have done. .
Nevertheless, I have listened to your concerns and will reflect on them very carefully.
Finally, further to our discussion about your letter of September 4th, I can confirm that I have asked
Angela Van Den Bogerd to look into the case. Once her enquiries are complete, one of the team will
be in touch with your office to discuss next steps, including the possibility of a meeting. -
I look forward to our meeting on 17 November and I imagine your office will be in touch with mine
with a suggested agenda and a list of attendees in due course.
Paula Vennells
Chief Executive
www. postoffice.co.uk
Post Office Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered No, 2154540, Registered Office 148 Old Street, London EC1V 9HQ.
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Oflice Limited.
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148 Old Street
London
The Rt Hon James Arbuthnot MP
House of Commons .
LONDON
SW1A OAA
5 November 2014
eo femes,
Re: Complaint and Mediation Scheme
I wanted to follow up on our telephone conversation on 28 October. You raised a number of
concerns over Post Office’s engagement with the Scheme and I am grateful to you for doing so. 1am
also grateful to you for accepting that there are two sides to every story,
As we discussed, Post Office has gone to great lengths to respond to the issues raised by Members of
Parliament, the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA), and now individual applicants about the
Horizon system. .
You will recall that both JFSA and Second Sight were involved in the design of the Scheme, the
establishment of the Working Group and the appointment of the independent chair.
To date, Post Office has investigated over 100 cases and is on course to complete all investigations
by Christmas. We provide the funding and Secretariat for the Working Group and we also provide
funding for applicants to obtain professional advice in preparing their complaints, On any
reasonable view, the measures we have taken cannot be characterised as being suggestive of bad .
faith.
As I said when we spoke, we have found no evidence of a fault with Horizon in any of those cases, I
am clear that this is not cause for complacency and we will be as rigorous in investigating the
remaining cases as we have been with those we have investigated.
However, Post Office cannot ignore these investigation findings in determining its approach to
mediation in each case. In particular, Post Office cannot be expected to accept responsibility for
matters where there is no evidence that it is at fault and where, instead, errors (and sometimes
- dishonesty) on the part of an applicant or their staff have been shown to have caused or contributed
to the losses in the branch. To my mind, that is not a legalistic but a fair-minded and rational
approach. .
www.postoffice.co.uk.
Past Office Limited s registered in England and Wales, Registered No, 2154540. Registered Office 148 Old Streat, London EC1V 9H,
Past Office and the Post Office tago are registered trade marks of Post Office Linuted.