UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
From: Creswell, Carl (Prof
Directorate
Services, Retail & Post
Sent:
To: Aldred, Tom - UKGI Cooper, Tom - UKGI 1
White, Beth (Profes: ‘etail & Post Directorate)f_ sss GRO a
Ce: Cole, Alex.- hargava, Pranita
(BENS) GRO
Subject: Few points from POL Chair meeting
OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE: COMMERCIAL
Many thanks, Tom.
I thought that the meeting between Alex and Tim went pretty well last week. Tim had clearly prepared
thoroughly and quoted quite a lot from his brief during the meeting. The discussion was harmonious and
Alex said at the end that he agreed with the points that Tim had made.
Alex underlined the importance of culture and reputation, as you would expect, especially the need to get
ahead of negative stories that would be likely to come if the judgment goes against POL. Alex also quoted
the Select Committee’s recommendation that Government should review the mechanisms we have to hold
POL to account.
On the litigation, Alex was keen that POL (and we) take HMT with us when making the argument about any
potential settlement. I personally thought that Tim was still quite defensive and his initial reply about how
POL would respond to a negative judgment was that they would commit to do more to tackle errors, rather
than seeming to accept any POL blame. Tim was also very confident that the Horizon system would still
be viable in any scenario.
I thought what Alex was looking for on the litigation was pretty much the same as what we are already
doing; there was though a strong message from Alex that we may not have much time to get approval from
HMT for any settlement offer envelope. Tom C said to Alex that it would be helpful to have a separate
discussion with him about the litigation and I’ve followed up to underline how helpful that would be for us.
On actions, Tim and Alex asked us to press on the NED appointments (which I’ve done, though no result
yet). Alex also said, when prompted, that he would like to proceed with his plan for Nick and Tim to
present the results of the PSG work to him when it is completed, probably therefore in January.
Tom C — do feel free to add or comment on the above!
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the briefing, which appeared to hit the mark for Alex.
Thanks,
Carl.
awe Carl Creswell
Director, Professional & Business Services, Retail and
Department for Post
Business, Energy
& Industrial Strategy
Orchard 2, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET
www.gov.uk/beis I https://twitter.com/beisgovuk
From: Aldred, Tom - UKGI 4
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
Sent: 01 November 2019 12:23
To: Creswell, Carl fessional
ss Services, Retail & Post Directorate) <. 4
5; White, Beth (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate)
Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS) 7
Subject: RE: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
Carl
Thanks for your response. You raise some good points. It’s also usual for UKGI assets to give a review
against performance. The reason I'd excluded is that we get very good sight of this already, but happy to
add.
Also happy to remove bonuses if you think it was sufficiently covered yesterday. Personally I'd like to keep
the Board update in, not least because I’m not totally convinced that Tim takes it that seriously and it is a
signal to him that we do.
The agenda is very long, so suggest we keep LEO sleeves for AOB (along with strikes) if there is time. If
we wanted to shorten further, I'd suggest taking out the IT update. Important, but there’s only so much to
cover.
I've given a revised agenda below. Tom C= What do you! think?
If you've time, I’d welcome a bit more detail on how the meeting with Tim went.
Tom
Performance
1. Update on performance against targets - finance and operational. POL to provide short paper
Governance
2. View from the Board, including new NEDs (POL)
3. Management and capability (POL)
Policy
4. Purpose, Strategy and Growth (POL)
5. Long Term Vision, including social purpose and network size (BEIS)
6. Future of subsidy (BEIS)
Operations and strategy
7. 5 Year Plan, including discussion of aspirational targets and future cost structures/efficiencies
(POL)
8. Decision-making and use of data (POL)
9. Litigation (UKGI)
10. IT update (POL)
11. AOB*
*if time allows ask about Strikes and LEO
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
From: Creswell, Carl (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate) <j
Sent: 31 October 2019 19:15
; Cooper, Tom - UKGI ¢
orate) ¢
Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS) <}
Cc: Cole, Alex - UKGI <
Subject: Re: Sharehol
Hi Tom,
Thanks for getting back to me on this.
I’m happy with the idea of broadening out the agenda, but from previous sponsorship experience (and reflecting on
our long session with Tim earlier!) I think we are being too ambitious about what we can cover in two hours. With
Tim there as well as Nick, it is going to be hard to give everyone a say and get through the essential material.
I would therefore propose dropping:
- item 1 because we have read the appointment papers and it will be too early to tell how the NEDs are contributing;
- item 3 because UKGI is all over this with POL and you have a clear way forward, plus Tim and Tom covered it with
Alex today. There’s also little to be gained in raking over the bonus sensitivities again;
- item 4 because I think it’s fairly operational;
- item 12 because we can cover it under AOB if needed.
I also do still feel that we need a quick summary from POL at the start about their delivery against current targets.
Again, that’s been standard for every other body that I’ve sponsored and I think it sets the tone that they are
reporting to us as their shareholder, even if their performance is straightforward. I would also still ask POL to give us
some written material (even if only a couple of slides) to support that discussion.
How does that sound? My main point is that I think we need to be a bit more realistic about what can be covered!
And thanks for being flexible on the timing of BEIS items. I’Il be there for the first hour and a half.
Thanks,
Carl
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Aldred, Tom - UKGI}_
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019
To: Creswell, i
Tom - UKGI <_
:31 PM .
s Services, Retail & Post Directorate) < GRO ; Cooper,
White, Beth (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate)
Ce : Cole, Alex - UKGI<i......... GRO. ks Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS) i
Subject: RE: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
Carl, Tom
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
Thank you for your response. Tom and I had a separate discussion on this yesterday, and he is keen to
broaden out the agenda. I've also taken some advice from other UKGI teams on what is typically covered —
usually there are standing items for governance and performance/operations. Below I’ve tried to bring
these all together in a revised agenda. I’ve suggested we don't leave policy till the end as Carl needs to
leave early.
To note that Tim Parkerwill be attending. Given the centrality of the chair in the UKGI-asset relationship,
I’ve suggested that we start with his area.
I appreciate the agenda is long. I don’t think we need to ask for papers, but have indicated where we
expect POL to lead the discussion. We should also ask them if there is anything they want to add to the
agenda - it is also designed to be a forum where they can raise concerns or ask for assistance.
Are you content with the below?
Draft Agenda
Governance
1. Board update, including new NEDs and what they bring (POL, TP)
2. Management and capability (POL — TP, NR)*
3. Future of LTIP and STIP (POL)
4. LEO update (POL)
Policy
. Purpose, Strategy and Growth (POL)
. Long Term Vision, including social purpose and network size (BEIS)
. Future of subsidy (BEIS)
NOW
Operations and strategy
8. 5 Year Plan, including discussion of aspirational targets and future cost structures/efficiencies
(POL)
9. Decision-making and use of data (POL)
10. Litigation (UKGI)
11. IT update (POL)
12. RM Strikes (POL)
13. AOB
* I’ve not included succession planning as a separate topics as I don’t think this will be a good forum with Al
in the room. Instead I suggest we make clear under the next point that we expect it to be robust, and to
improve on recent practice!
Tom
Ti
From: Creswell, Carl (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate}
Sent: 31 October 2019 08:42
To: Aldred, Tom - UKGI <.
(Professional Business Directorate)
Ce: Cole, Alex - UKGI 4. GRO >; Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS)
Subject: RE: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
Hi Tom,
I think it would be good to go for a high-level agenda along something the following lines:
1. POL performance against key targets [on the basis of a short paper from POL, perhaps using one
of the existing documents that they produce for their Board / UKGI]
2. Update from Nick Read on their PSG work [ideally on the basis of an updated presentation from
POL & McKinsey]
3. Latest on BEIS policy thinking
4. Live issues
5. AOB
We could then flag with them if there are specific areas we want to drill into in more depth for each of the
areas.
Does that sound like it would work and cover all our main interests?
Carl.
Carl Creswell
Director, Professional & Business Services, Retail and Post
r rchard 2, ictoria reet, London SW1H OET
www.gov.uk/beisIhttps://twitter.com/beisgovuk
From: Aldred, Tom - UKG
Sent: 30 October 2019 15:
To: Cooper, Tom - UKGI <
; White, Beth (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post
Creswell, Carl (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate)
‘ole, Alex - UKGI < GRO “I Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS)¢_
Subject: RE: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
At present, Nick and Al.
We could request others.
Tom Aldred, Post Office Shareholder Team, UKGI
From: Cooper, Tom - UKGI
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
Sent: 30 October 201914:58
To: Aldred, T GRO. __}White, Beth (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post
Directorate) E
Creswell, Carl (Professional Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate)
d
Ce: Cole, Alex - UKGI
Subject: RE: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
hargava, Pranita (BEIS) <_
Who is attending from POL?
Tom Cooper
Director
UK Government Investments
1 Victoria Street I London I SW1H OET
From: Aldred, Tom - UKG
Sent: 30 October 2019 12:
To: Cooper, Tom - UKGI <
Directorate)
<
Ce: Cole, Alex - UKGI
Subject: Shareholder meeting - Agenda
; Bhargava, Pranita (BEIS) L
We should let POL have an agenda for the Shareholder Meeting, due on 13 November. We have two
hours with the CEO and CFO and we can determine the topic. I think we are all agreed that the focus
should be on the outcomes of Nick’s strategy review. I’d welcome your views on
1. Do we want to specify some questions for POL to address, or should we leave it open? Questions
from the UKGI side could be
a. Thoughts on an ‘aspirational’ commercial target for the business at the end of the 5 year
period
b. Where and how do you plan to drive efficiencies?
c. Emerging conclusions on ‘big bet’ investments and how will you get a better grip on change
spend?
2. Should we try to cover anything else in the session (eg Long Term Vision, outreaches, Agent Pay,
change spend, governance). My hunch is no — the PSG should be enough.
Would be good to get a clear commission to POL before the end of the week.
Tom
Tom Aldred! Executive Director
Post Office Shareholder Team
UK Government Investments
1 Victoria Street I London! SW1H OET.
: IM:
UKG100010672
UKGI00010672
This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the email. This footnote
also confirms that our email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective operation of our systems and
for other lawful purposes, and that this email has been swept for malware and viruses.
This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the email. This footnote
also confirms that our email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective operation of our systems and
for other lawful purposes, and that this email has been swept for malware and viruses.
This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the email. This footnote
also confirms that our email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective operation of our systems and
for other lawful purposes, and that this email has been swept for malware and viruses.