UKGI00013690 - Letter from Vince Cable to Rt Hon David Miliband MP re: Constitute Kevin Carter’s Experiences as a Subpostmaster and POL’s Independent Review of Cases

Evidence on official site

UKGI00013690
UKGI00013690

The Rt Hon Vince Cable MP

Rt Hon David Miliband MP Our ref: 304481
House of Commons Your ref:$S14936K
London
SW1A OAA
August 2012

Thank you for your letter of 23 July enclosing a letter from your constituent, Mr
Kevin Carter of Carters News & Post Office, Biddick Hall, South Shields, about
Post Office Ltd’s (POL) Horizon system.

I have noted Mr Carter’s experiences and concerns as subpostmaster at
Biddick Hall but should also note that POL remains fully confident about the
robustness and integrity of its Horizon system and related accounting
processes. Since 2000, many millions of branch reconciliations have been
carried out with transactions and balances accurately recorded on Horizon by
more than 25,000 different subpostmasters in total.

Nevertheless, in the light of discussions with James Arbuthnot MP and a
number of other MPs with ex-subpostmaster constituents who had raised
concerns about Horizon, POL recently agreed to an external independent
review of a small number of individual cases that had been raised with them by
several MPs.

The external review of specific individual cases will be undertaken by a firm of
forensic accountants and the timescale and precise processes for identifying
the cases for the review are in the process of being finalised. James Arbuthnot
will arrange for the details to be circulated to interested MPs in due course.

I would therefore recommend that you contact James Arbuthnot to discuss Mr
Carter's case and its possible inclusion in the cases to be reviewed by the
forensic accountants.

VINCE CABLE