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Project Sparrow Steering Board
Minutes of Meeting
25'" November, 4-5pm
Minutes of the meeting
Governance and attendees:
«© From 25" November onwards Belinda Crowe (BC) takes ownership of project sparrow
and Steering Board
e Andy Holt (AH) will still attend as IT rep
« Angela Van den Bogerd (AVDB) will set up separate governance for the Business
Improvements Programme (BIP)
« BC setting up light touch governance for project sparrow
o Steering Board to move to monthly
o Project meeting bi-weekly
Working Group (WG) Update:
Cases where individual has been prosecuted - Tony wants Post Office to thoroughly
review each case submitted to the mediation process. He is expecting us to look at
areas within the case that may be suitable for mediation and then refer them to the
Working Group. If there are any additional themes / findings as we progress through the
process then Post Office will have a duty of care to disclose information.
« Closing of the Mediation Scheme application process — it was agreed by the WG that
Post Office would issue a statement (this will provide JFSA with a reference point).
Resources:
e BC recruiting additional resources and attending recruitment panel tomorrow to confirm
Information Manager role, still looking for project manager post
* 14 additions to the investigations team — network team has approved, should be up and
running by 6" December
« Up to 10 people needed for mediation (this has not yet been cleared) AVDB organising
Timelines:
* 144 application received (this will impact timescales)
e Fujitsu data requests could become a bottleneck however AVDB is prioritising requests
(watching brief)
* 8 case questionnaires received, awaiting 2 more cases to go to Second Sight (SS)
today
« Where possible AVDB is looking at existing subpostmaster cases to see if there are any
immediate resolutions.
« 1 case has already been closed down and no longer needs to go through mediation
« Updating BIS was discussed — it was agreed this was not needed at this point (Martin
Edwards and BC updated BIS on the 6" November)
Investigations:
We need a framework that will minimise SS opportunity to contend
Bond Dickinson are reviewing prior to AVDB investigation
The process will need to be refined as we go
AVDB happy with resources for investigation
Those that have already been prosecuted will be harder to investigate.
Martin Griffiths and Alan Bates applications have now been received
Budget:
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e Revised budget from AH is modelled on 130 applications and does not included
additional 14 into the investigations team / or additional contractor
e Looking at an approximate increase in budget of £1 million due to case numbers (73%
increase in cases from original predictions / 66% increase in cost)
Need to track Bond Dickinson and SS costs
AH will work with BC next week to revise budgets
Invoice from SS at £36k for the month (Belinda, Chris and Andy to pick-up)
Sharon Bull will be finance rep for BIP, Charles will remain finance rep for Sparrow
eocee
Branch User Forum:
* Inaugural meeting 19" November, positive feedback received
« 4SPMRs, 1 Crown, 1 Branch Manager (others have indicated they will join)
Board Meeting:
e¢ BC and AC to run through — pace, time, next steps, CEO report and action plan.
« The approach will need to be explained clearly to the board including the 3 categories
of cases - easy, moderate, and difficult.