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From: Vandini, Cecilia (Advanced Manufacturing and Services)I,
Sent: Thur 19/12/2019 7:45:35 AM (UTC)
To: Cooper, Tom - UKG!
Ce:
Directorate} “f Grant, Calum (BEIS:
Subject: Re: Post Office Litigation Trial - Horizon Issue Judgment 16 December
Hi Tom,
Shortening the copy list. Do you mean the settlement lines in the core brief or in the UQ rebuttal? In any case I can
work with Josh to rework them.
As for your point about the inquiry, it is a very valid one. However, I do not think it should be addressed in the UQ.
rebuttal as the purpose of it is just to persuade the speaker to agree not to grant the urgent question.
A fuller briefing with extensive Q&A will have to be sent up should the UQ be granted. The issue of a public inquiry
can be dealt with as part of that, but would be good to incorporate a line on the inquiry in our fuller Q&A pack.
Thanks,
Cecilia
Cecilia Vandini (BEIS) I Post Office Policy Lead I f “GRO
From: "Cooper, Tom - UKGI" 4 GRO i
Date: Wednesday, 18 Decembe
= "Vandini, Cecilia (Advance
"Tolhurst (Private Office)"
cott, Joshua - UKGI
>, Permanent Secretary
Directorate)";
"Grant, Calum (BEIS
Cecilia
I'd suggest changing the lines on convicted claimants. As written the lines suggest that everything has been settled
which is not the case.
Also I think there needs to be a response to a question about an inquiry which has already been raised by an MP.
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Tom
Sent from my iPhone
On 18 Dec 2019, at 15:37, Vandini, Cecilia (Advanced Manufacturing and Services)
wrote:
Hi Jess,
With thanks to all those who contributed, please find enclosed the UQ rebuttal and our most up to date
lines on the litigation.
Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.
Best,
Cecilia
Cecilia Vandini (BEIS) I Post Office Policy Lead I
From: "Vandini, Cecilia (Advanced Manufacturing and Services)" <
Date: Wednesday, 18 December 2019 at 12:13
To: "Tolhurst (Private Office)" { GRO 1, "Secretary Of State (Private
>, Permanent Secretary
"Aldred, Tom - UKGI"
“Lambert, Lucie - UKGI"
, "Adegun,
"Creswell, Carl (Professional Business
4 "White, Beth (Professional
5, "Bhargava, Pranita
Oluwatosin - UKGI" {_ noe
Services, Retail & Post Directorate
Business Services, Retail & Post Directorate)" <
(BEIs)" { GRO _b, "Grant, Calum (BEIS)"
"Regis, Patricia (Communications
Rachel (Communications & Partnerships)"
(BEIS)" ¢
“Morrison, Emer (Legal
I GRO
Subject: Re: Post Office Litigation Trial - Horizon Issue Judgment 16 December
Richards, Nigel (Finance & Portfolio)"
Hi Jess,
Thanks for the update. The UQ rebuttal is currently going through our internal clearance process and we
are well on track to meet the deadline.
Noted on the meeting with Nick Read. Let’s pick up when ministerial portfolios have been confirmed!
Thanks,
Cecilia
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"Lambert, Lucie - UKGI"
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"Regis, Patricia (Communications & Partnerships
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"Richards, Nigel (Finance & Portfolio)"
Subject: RE: Post Office Litigation Trial - Horizon Issue Judgment 16 December
Hi All,
Kelly has noted the update. She hasn't indicated that she would like a call with POL so please
stand down on producing briefing. Thank you for your work on this up until this point.
She would like to see the UQ rebuttal ahead of any being tabled so grateful if the COP today
deadline can be met.
Finally, I assured her that she will be provided with robust lines on the litigation to be used in
the chamber as it can now be raised. As such, I would be grateful if a set of lines/attacks can
be prepared to have on the stocks for all future Post Office debate packs.
Separately on a BAU note, Kelly has requested that once her reappointment is confirmed her
monthly 1-2-1 meetings with Nick Read go back into the diary with only Private Office in
attendance to take notes.
More than happy to discuss if you have any questions.
Many thanks,
Jess
<image001.png> Jessica Tysoe
Private Secretary to Kelly Tolhurst MP
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
_ANictoria Street, London, SW1H OET
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www.gov.uk/beis I_https://twitter.com/beisgovuk
From: Secretary Of State (Private Office) <
Sent: 17 December 2019 15:23 .
tt, Joshua - U
(Professional Business. Services. Retail & Post Directorate) ¢ >; Bhargava, Pranita
(BEIS) GRO Vandini, Cecilia (Advanced woniachuine and Services)
Regis, Patricia
(Communications &
Morrison, Emer
“(legal) b Patel, Vanisha (Finance & Portfolio)
Richards, Nigel (Finance & Portfolio) <~
RE: Post Office Litigation Trial - Horizon Issue Judgment 16 December
Subje
Thanks Josh,
SoS has noted without comment
Bex
Rebecca Lowe, Private Secretary to the Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and
; Tolhurst (Private Office)
Secretary <
Cc: Cooper, Tom - UKGI { GRO ‘Aldred, Tom - UKGIE GRO
; Culshaw, Robin - UKGI
Cole, Alex - UKGI
i Creswell, Carl
GRO 5 +: White, Beth
GRO i>; Bhargava, Pranita
_P; Regis, Patricia
Yeomans, Rachel (Communications &
(Communicatio1
Partnerships)
Richards, Nigel (Finance & Portfolio) ¢
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Subject: Post Office Litigation Trial - Horizon Issue Judgment 16 December
Hi all,
Judge Fraser handed down his judgment in the Post Office Group Litigation Order (GLO) in relation to
the second “Horizon Issues” trial that took place over the summer. This follows the settlement that was
reached between the Post Office and the claimants last week.
Post Office came in to discuss the judgment and its implications with officials today. Please see below a
brief update.
* Today Judge Fraser handed down his judgment centred on the reliability and function
of the Horizon accounting system used by Post Office Ltd (POL). It follows the legal
action from 555 postmasters, which was successfully settled through mediation last
week.
¢ Broadly, the Judgment found that today’s Horizon system (HNG-A, operating from
2018 — present) is “relatively robust”. However, previous systems were not: Legacy
Horizon (2000 — 2010) was “not robust” and the robustness of its successor HNG-X
(2010 — 2018) was "questionable, and did not justify the confidence placed in it by Post
Office”. This judgment is a historic analysis of the Horizon system in relation to the period
in question in the group litigation, and not a judgment upon what is in use today. It is also
a judgment on the system in abstract, and not the basis for conclusions about specific
cases.
« The judgment is less critical than previous judgments but there is still some strong
criticism in places.
« In terms of next steps there are 3 areas that have specific implications for POL:
1. Convicted claimants, where the judgment calls into question the integrity of
previous convictions. POL recognise the complexities here; the right place to hear
these will be through the CCRC process and Court of Appeal. This is central to the
settlement reached last week and POL will work collaboratively with the CCRC on
the individual cases involved.
2. Future claims of shortfalls outside GLO, where other postmasters may come
forward noting the findings on the historic Horizon system. POL have agreed a
process as part of the settlement for postmasters with shortfalls who wished to
come forward to assess and look at these (a Shortfalls Working Group).
3. Action against Fujitsu (FJ) — The judge is critical of the evidence provided by FJ.
He has referred the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions but it is not yet clear
what further action may be taken. POL is considering whether it could take action
against FJ but preliminary advice indicates this would be challenging. Notably the
ultimate decision to pursue postmasters for shortfalls was taken by POL and not FJ.
« POL have kept BEIS comms engaged and remain keen to focus on the settlement
reached last week. Their external messaging is centred around the new “reset”
relationship between POL and postmasters and on continuing the actions agreed at the
settlement.
« POL and officials are available for an in-person briefing should the Minister request it.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Cheers,
Josh
Joshua Scott I Analyst
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Post Office Shareholder Team
UK Government Investments
1 Victoria Street I London I SW1H OET.
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<191217 UQ Post Office Litigation .docx>
<20191218 Litigation Lines.docx>
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