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POL00190419
Thank you for your time this morning. We felt it was a very useful meeting and
thought it would be helpful to put together this note of the key points.
It is worth reiterating at the outset that the Post Office takes its responsibilities in
relation to the provision of training and support our staff and subpostmasters very
seriously. We are committed to working to continually improve these elements, so
important are they to confidence in our business. The 50,000 people who work on
the Horizon system every day in Post Office branches are the face of the Post Office
and as such we are determined to offer them the highest standards of support.
It is because we take these issues so seriously that we worked with you to
implement the review by Second Sight. We would like to again put on record our
gratitude to you for working so constructively with us on such a complex and far-
reaching issue.
Clearly the report we expect to receive on Friday represents the conclusion of an
interim review. We will of course learn from the findings where it is possible to do
so. In particular we are keen to work even more collaboratively with the JFSA to
conclude the Second Sight review. As discussed, we propose to create a Branch
User Forum to achieve this, and also to create an outlet for future concerns to be
raised, and hope the JFSA will agree to take part. You indicated that you might
mention this to the JFSA and we would be grateful if you were to do so. We could
pick this up again when we speak on Friday. We believe this initiative represents a
significant statement to support our commitment to the process of continual
improvement set out above.
We agreed that we will share our planned media statements with you in advance of
the publication of the interim report, and that you will do the same in return. The
Post Office communications team will be in touch with your office to build on this.
We also discussed a critical point, that of drawing a clear distinction between
systemic ssues with the Horizon computer system — of which it is our clear
understanding that none have been found — and wider support systems. As we
discussed, confusion about this critical distinction could have serious impacts for the
Post Office, subpostmasters and our customers.
To that end we believe it would be helpful to agree a definition of what is meant by
‘Horizon’ in advance of the meeting on Monday. [We have agreed the following with
Second Sight and this will appear in their report.]
[The Post Office point of sale [computer? IT?] system is known as Horizon
and is used throughout the Post Office network of 11,800 branches. It is used
during the sale of products and enables a reconciliation [can we find a
different way of describing this?] to take place on a regular basis. This
encompasses the software, hardware and communications network.
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POL00190419
Outside of the 'Horizon' system itself, there are a number of supporting
processes which include; training, help desk and back office support.
This review has considered and will report on each of these distinct aspects
separately, namely the supporting processes and the ‘Horizon’ system itself.]
You also raised an issue during our meeting relating to [this is where I need details
of the email JA referred to and the Bracknell issue]
When we receive the report on Friday we will share it as discussed with our
colleagues at Fujitsu in order that they can assess it from their perspective and we
can aim to get it to you on Monday. Clearly this is a tight timescale, so we will keep
your office up to date with developments.
Thank you for agreeing to allowing two Post Office representatives to attend the
meeting on Monday as observers. We will let you know who we plan to send as
soon as possible.
Finally, thank you once again for your time today and for your assistance and
support on this important issue.