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From:
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Alwen Lyonsk
Fri 23/05/2014 10:
Chris Aujardf
CroweI
“} Belinda
here are the draft minutes in confidence
It’s a bit smoke and mirrors but here are the minutes, comments asap please
ACTION:
Mark Davies
ACTION:
General Counsel
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
The Board noted the Chief Executive’s report and discussed the
following specific items:
SEPARTION
The CEO reported a meeting with Moya Greene CEO of Royal Mail
Group who was concerned about the separation of the two
businesses. To ensure any potential problems are understood she
has asked David Ryan to have a look at separation in the context of
Business Transformation. Paula Vennells explained that the business
may need a COO role whilst separation was finalised and was
considering possible options for that role
NFSP CONFERENCE
The CEO told the Board that she had received good feedback from
the NFSP conference and that the relationship was in a different
place than last year. Richard Callard explained that the conference
had challenged the Minister regarding Government Services work,
especially DVLA and POCA.
CURRENT ACCOUNT
The Bank Of Ireland had agreed to extend the current account to an
additional 100 branches, but the Business were asking for an
additional 500.
BBC DOCUMENTARY
The Business had agreed the filming of a BBC documentary to be
aired in the spring. The CEO recognised that any such work had an
element of risk but the Business had been reassured by the editorial
constraints negotiated by Mark Davies. The Board asked the CEO to
ascertain if the broadcast could be timed for after the election. The
CEO offered to circulate a brief and film trainer to the Board
SPARROW
Chris Aujard and Belinda Crowe joined the meeting.
The draft Deloitte’s Horizon Assurance Review had been circulated to
the Board. The final Review would be available to the Business on
Friday 23 May and would be circulated to the full Board.(Chris to
advise). The Chairman stressed the importance of that this Review to
give the Board assurance that there were no issues with the system,
and the need for it to be written clearly so that it could be used to give
assurance to a wider audience. The Review would be considered at
the next Board Sparrow Sub Committee (BSSC).
The CEO reported that she and the General Counsel had met Sir
Anthony Hooper to understand his appetite for changing the scheme.
ACTION:
Board Sparrow SC
ACTION:
Belinda Crowe
ACTION:
General Counsel/
Belinda Crowe
Mark Davies
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Sir Anthony Hooper stressed that the Post Office had agreed to the
mediation scheme and believed they now needed to let it run over the
next 12-18 months. With this in mind the Chairman asked the (BSSC)
to decide whether there was an option to change the scheme, before
the first case goes to formal mediation, which is likely to be in the next
4-8 weeks.
The General Counsel explained that 10 cases, where the claimant is
an existing sub postmaster, had already been settled outside the
scheme at very low cost to the Business. It was likely that this first
case going through the scheme could also be settled without going to
mediation.
The Board asked for a paper to the BSSC explaining the original
number of cases and those; already settled outside the scheme and
at what cost; which could be treated as Business as Usual and are
likely to settle outside the scheme; criminal cases which cannot be
taken to mediation; and the remaining cases likely to go through to
full mediation. The paper should also highlight how many of these
cases relate to the Horizon system.
The CFO explained the cost to the Business of the investigation
which was running at circa £700k a month, excluding payments to
claimants.
This expenditure was in line with the budget but still a challenge for
the Business.
The Chairman asked that the next BSSC to consider:
« the options available for scheme
* how cases could be out of the scheme into BAU, and how this
would be explained to the sub postmasters and other
stakeholders.
« the likely response from Sir Anthony Hooper, JFSA and
Second Sight to any change
« PR scenario planning for all the options being considered