MP Approach
MP Categorisation
Horizon Handling Plan
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Jo Swinson, Postal Affairs Minister and lan Murray, Shadow Minister will be updated on the process
ona regular basis. Mark Davies, Communications Director has met with lan and correspondence will
continue with both.
1). 45 cases as part of the Second Sight Report
Any MP who has a case being reviewed will be sent a letter to explain the process and offered a
meeting (the team will look at party conferences as an opportunity to meet and will identify those
that have a branch opening / current account launch in their constituency)
Categories:
¢ 23 MPs that have referred 27 cases as part of the Second Sight Investigation
MPs that have a case being reviewed by second sight (the other 20 cases)
2). other cases
Cases outside of the Second Sight report will be monitored and handled on a case by case process.
As an MP raises a case we will monitor their activity and communicate (for new cases this
correspondence may be via James Arbuthnot — yet to be decided)
* Historical cases
e Current/live cases
e New cases
3). Monitoring (on-going)
Horizon commentary and correspondence will be monitored and cases / MP issues will be handled
on a case by case basis.
© MPs expressing an interest / commenting in the media
«MPs expressing an interest / commenting on social media
* MPs expressing an interest / commenting in Parliament
© MPs correspondence (to the executive correspondence team)
4). Future cases
We need to be clear what the process is from now on in case we’re asked by MPs.
Timeline of Activity
Date Aci Target Group
9" July Statement in Parliament
22 July James Arbuthnot MP meeting to discuss JA and Second Sight
process moving forward.
24" July Workshop to discuss process with JA, SS,
JFSA and external lawyers.
August SSM notified of MPs who have referred a SSMs — monitor activity / flag
case or who have a case in their issues and opportunities
constituency being reviewed by Second
Sight.
August James Arbuthnot’s office send a letter MPs, Individuals that have
explaining the mediation scheme to MPs raised a case.
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that have raised a case.
Second Sight send a letter explaining the
mediation scheme to those individuals that
have a case they want reviewed.
JFSA send a letter explaining the mediation
scheme to those individuals that have a case
they want reviewed.
August
Post Office send a letter to MPs that have
raised a case to offer a face to face meeting
(to include Angela Van Den Bogerd) to
discuss the process (not the case).
Case meeting can be organised upon
completion of mediation.
MP cases
October
All initial application forms needs to be in by
the 31* October
Those with a case.
October onwards —
Initial Medication
Scheme
Implementation
POL Meeting (to include Angela Van Den
Bogerd) with individual MP and SS to discuss
case review
¢ MPs that have raised a case
as part of the Second Sight
Investigation
© MPs that have a case being
reviewed by second sight
On-going
Briefing and assurance of Second Sight
Process (with offer to answer questions /
meet)
e MPs expressing an interest
/ commenting in the media
e MPs expressing an interest
/ commenting on social
media
« MPs expressing an interest
/ commenting in
Parliament
e MPs correspondence (to
the executive
correspondence team)
« Live cases — MP may not be
aware but is their
constituent
¢ Historical Cases
Any new cases raised will follow the reviewed process (as mentioned above).
Media Approach
We will take a reactive approach to the media until at least middle of week commencing 12th August
as if we make a proactive statement we need to be in a position to report progress against all our
commitments. The next proactive statement we make will need to include the Initial Post Office
Mediation Scheme.
Reactive Lines
Q. What progress have you made since the interim report was produced?
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A. The thousands of subpostmasters and their staff who work in the post office network in
communities across the country are the lifeblood of our business. We take our responsibilities to
them very seriously and recognise that we can always improve the way we support them and their
business.
We have already taken steps towards the commitments made in response to the interim report. We
have worked with the JFSA to establish a working group to conduct a review of outstanding cases
and work is underway to develop a mediation process for disputed cases.
Matt Prodger
At the moment we are also taking a reactive approach to Matt Prodger, please see Annex B for the
correspondence had to date.
Annex A: MP engagement to-date
© 22 MPs put forward a total of 25 cases
© 17 MPs asked questions when Jo made a statement (excluding lan Murray and Jo Swinson)
MPs who have put forward a case
MP Name, Constituency, Party SPMR Cases
1. James Arbuthnot (2), North East Hampshire, Conservative Jo Hamilton
Paul Popov
2. Stephen Crabb, Preseli Pembrokeshire, Conservative Tim Brentnall
3. Jonathan Djanogly, Huntingdon, Conservative Jenny O'Dell
4. Alan Duncan, Rutland and Melton, Conservative Caroline Jack (now Welton)
5. George Freeman, Mid Norfolk, Conservative lan Warren
6. Dai Havard (2), Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney, Labour Tracy Etheridge
Lynn Prosser
7. Oliver Letwin, West Dorset, Conservative Tracey Ann Merritt
8. Jonathan Lord, Woking, Conservative Seema Misra
9, Alan Meale, Mansfield, labour John Dickson
10. George Osborne, Tatton, Conservative Terence Walters
11. Mike Wood, Batley and Spen, Labour Alison Hall
12. Andrew Tyrie, Chichester, Conservative Nirmale Fatania
13. Mark Lazarowicz, Edinbrough North and Leith, Labour (co-op) Philip Cowan
14. Greg Knight (2), East Yorkshire, Conservative Pauline Thomson
Lee Castleton
15. John Woodcock, Barrown and Furness, Labour (co-op) Isabella Wall
16. Priti Patel, Witham, Conservative Graham Ward
17. Edward Leigh, Gainsborough, Conservative Shirley Rayner
18. Damien Hinds, East Hampshire, Conservative Pauline Coates
19. Kevin Barron, Rother Valley, Labour Susan Michelle Watson
20. Andrew Bridgen Michael Rudkin
21. David Jones Alan Bates
22. Ronnie Campbell Sarah Burgess-Boyde (also
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I Ray Clarence)
James Arbuthnot Meeting on the 9" July attendees:
James Arbuthnot (2), North East Hampshire, Conservative
© Oliver Letwin, West Dorset, Conservative
Tessa Munt (not included elsewhere), Wells, Lib dems
Jo Swinson statement in Parliament
Government: Jo Swinson, Postal Affairs Minister, East Dunbartonshire, Lib dem
Shadow: lan Murray, Edinbrough South, Labour
Questions asked by:
Mike Wood (has a case) Batley and Spen, Labour
e Jonathon Djanogly (has a case), Huntingdon, Conservative
e Kevan Jones, North Durham, Labour
¢ Robin Walker, Worcester, Conservative
«Mike Weir, Angus, SNP
e Lord Jonanthon, Woking, Labour (has a case)
e Russell Brown, Dumfries and Galloway, Labour
e Andrew Bridgen (has a case), North West Leicestershire, Conservative
e Huw Irranca-davies, Ogmore, Labour
* David Mowat, Warrington South, Conservative
Cathy Jamieson, Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Labour
© Philip Hollobone, Ketley, Conservative
* David Simpson, Upper Bann, Democratic Unionist
Peter Bone, Wellingborough, Conservative
John Woodcock (has a case), Barrown and Furness, Labour (co-op)
Jim Shannon, Strongford, Deomcratic Unionist
Christopher Chope, Christchurch, Conservative
eee
MPs that have commented but not sure they have a case:
© Graham Stuart
* Louise Ellman «Mr Mike Weir MP
e = Mr Brian Binley MP « Mr Peter Bone MP
* MrChristopher Chope OBE MP * MrPhilip Hollobone MP
«Mr David Mowat MP Mr Robin Walker MP
«Mr David Simpson MP «Mr Russell Brown MP
Mr Huw Irranca-Davies MP * Mr Stewart Jackson MP
e¢ = MrJim Shannon MP e Ms Cathy Jamieson MP
e Kevan Jones MP «Rt Hon Nick Brown MP
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Annex B: Matt Prodger enquiry, email trail
Hello,
I draw your attention to the following communication (below) sent by POL to crown offices and in
particular points 3 and 4.
Folks, I’m afraid the longer Industrial action continues the tighter we are going to have to manage
our cost base. We already have a significant gap in our sales performance directly attributable to
Industrial action and I would rather we start to reduce our costs now, than be told at a later stage to
do so. Until further notice the following initiatives are in place across the Region.
1. Any and all overtime & casual working must be authorised by your Area Manager in the first
instance without exception. Any previous authorisations must be re-visited and challenging
questions asked (Area Managers — You will need to bring a breakdown of all overtime for me to view
against your period P & L). THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A BAN ON OVERTIME.
2. All Team meetings must be held in Post Office buildings and where possible limited to 1 day
without overnight stays (I will allow quarterly 2 day meetings if required but these will need
authorisation from me personally.)
3. Any losses identified over £30 must be reported to me by email immediately (copied to your Area
Manager & RSA) and a full explanation of that loss attached. Reporting ‘I don’t know’ will not suffice.
4. At least one surprise cash check daily (this should take no longer than 10 minutes). We have had
some significant losses lately (12k in one Branch already this month) and have to take our
responsibilities seriously. I will be asking RSA’s to spot check this daily and report back to me any
discrepancies or cases of non-conformance.
Once I feel that our sales & cost performance are back on track I’ll review and advise you of any
changes to the above instructions (I’d love us to pull this around with a strong sales performance and
if you have any great ideas please share!). This is a tough message to send but I hope you'll
understand that as a commercial Business that already loses a significant amount of money this
Region needs to deliver its fair contribution to the Network profit target.
Best wishes
Martin
Martin Rouse I Crown Regional General Manager —- NORTH
Can you please provide responses to the following questions:
-How many crown offices have been sent this email?
-Has a form of this email been sent to other crown offices outside of the region covered by Martin
Rouse? If so how many?
-Why was this email sent?
-Which branch was the £12,000 loss reported at and what has been identified as the cause of the
loss?
-How many losses have been identified over £30 since this email/these emails have been sent out?
Thank-you.
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Response to Matt
In terms of your first three questions this is a routine email sent by one of our regional managers.
The aim of this email is to remind managers of Crown branches of the need to ensure they keep
down costs in a part of our network which is losing £37m a year and is currently in the midst of an
industrial dispute. The contents relate to good operational management advice of the kind you
would see from many organisations, especially those which are responsible for handling public
money.
It is not appropriate to name the branch where the loss of £12,000 was reported, but I can confirm
that this concerned an admitted cash theft.
In terms of wider information on losses this is not publicly available.
Q&A if required
Do you turn a blind eye to losses in Crown branches when you would prosecute if the loss occurred
in a subpostoffice?
People who work in all our branches, whether it is a directly managed Crown branch or run by a
subpostmaster, must abide by the high standards of probity required. In terms of Crowns we have
regular spot check to ensure required standards and processes are adhered.
We have a duty to investigate where there is suspicion of wrong-doing. The public would be
surprised if we did not take action where public money may have been misappropriated.