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Communications Team!
Sent: Fri 14/08/2015 11:26:28 ‘AM (UTC)
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Alisdair
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Andrew J Thompsonf_
F Russell Hancock}
3} sarah.malonef’
Brian Harrison2,_
Nielsenf
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Barrettof ; Chris N Howardj”
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ry
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Gill Broderick{’
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Kevin Lenihan
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Lebeterf.” . a
Peter S Lamb} i Bi ; Phillip J
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Sheena Pati
Russell!”
Subject: in the loop - the latest on Panorama
Hello
I wanted to send a short update on the plans by the BBC’s Panorama
to broadcast a programme about the Post Office and its Horizon
system on Monday.
We have spent a great deal of the week dealing with this issue, and
Mark Davies making our position clear to the BBC at very senior levels. We do
Communications & expect, however, that the programme will include a number of
Corporate Affairs unsubstantiated allegations. We have decided against being
Director interviewed as part of the programme and have instead issued a
robust statement. This was a very carefully considered decision but the
programme wanted us to speak publicly about individual cases and we
are not prepared to break the confidentiality commitments we have
given about these. Whilst it is difficult to take this position in the face
of untrue claims being made in public, we believe it is the right one.
If you have any queries about the programme, please don’t hesitate to
contact me at mark.r.davie: In addition if any
colleagues come across/or are contacted by postmasters with specific
questions about Horizon then they should be asked to ring NBSC so
that assistance can be offered.
On Monday we will be sending out a note to all Post Office colleagues
updating them on the programme. In the meantime, our core points
are below. I would welcome your help in ensuring that our key
messages are cascaded to colleagues, particularly those who may get
questions from customers or postmasters (and potential new
operators).
The key points to make are as follows:
. extremely serious, unsubstantiated allegations about the
Post Office and the Horizon system have continued to be
repeated over the past few years by a small number of
mainly former postmasters
. we are sorry if these people feel they have not been treated
fairly by the Post Office and we have gone to great lengths
to look at their cases
. the clear evidence we have in these cases does not support
allegations being made
e we committed to confidentiality to people who put
grievances to us, so we cannot share details about individual
cases
° what we can Say is that we do not prosecute people for
making innocent mistakes and never have
. it is right that we may take action as custodians of
customers' money where there is evidence of dishonesty
. we have demonstrated that Horizon works as it should. It
has been shown to be robust and effective in dealing with
six million transactions a day, with some 78,000 people
using it, and it is regularly audited
° £70bn goes through Horizon every year: if there were
systemic problems with branch accounting, it is reasonable
to expect them to have been more widely experienced
across the Post Office network than the 136 individual
complaints spanning more than 10 years, during which there
have been 500,000 Horizon users.
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. during the past three years we have done everything and
more than we committed to do to investigate the concerns
put forward about our computer system. That was the right
thing to do.
° we set up an independent inquiry, established the
complaint review and mediation scheme and provided
financial support for people to obtain independent,
professional advice.
° this work has provided overwhelming evidence that
demonstrates it was not Horizon that was responsible for
missing money in any of the branches investigated
Thank you in advance for your help.