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From: "Parsons, Andrew" L
To: "Thorp, Ben (
+, "Parmenter, Claire"
}, "Leigh-Doyle, Alva" <
Ce: "Monty, Craig"
, "Matthews, Gavin"
Subject: Post Office Mediation Scheme [BD-4A.FID20472253]
Date: Wed, 21 May 2014 16:18:42 +0000
Importance: Normal
Attachments: M035_POL_Security_Report_PT_012_(marked_for_redaction).pdf
Inline-Images: image001 jpg; image002.jpg; image003.jpg
All
A quick email with an update on progress with the Scheme in general and a little feedback on the reports.
Scheme
« There are now 136 live cases in the Scheme (with a number having been settled or rejected by Post Office).
We have received just under half of the CQRs with more coming through each week.
e The first Second Sight report has been finalised and sent to an Applicant (Congratulations to Ben Thorp who
looks like he will be getting the first mediation! Ben — don't panic — I'll call to discuss)
« The current feeling at Post Office is:
o The scheme is likely to continue in its current vein but it's being closely monitored by the POL board
who could change things at any time.
o There are concerns around the speed at which cases are progressing so we need to make sure we
continue to turn stuff around asap.
o The principal concern is with the quality of work and capacity at Second Sight (who have reached some
quite frankly extraordinary conclusions in their first report).
Upcoming work
« With the SS reports now starting to come through, we will be moving into the next stage of work in preparing
for mediation. This will require us to:
o Provide a written critique of each SS report
o Advise on settlement
o Prepare for mediation (including preparing mediation statements)
o Attending mediations
Post Office are still deciding exactly how they want the above work done (more details to follow) but I suspect
that POL will want us to be fairly rigorous in our approach (so bear in mind when thinking about capacity and
do let me know if any issues).
Feedback on reports
«© The new approach (of reviewing underlying documents / working closer with the POL investigators) is
definitely producing better quality reports — if you have encountered any problems please do let me know.
« Exec summaries:
o The exec summaries should be kept concise (ideally 1 page; definitely no more than 2 pages).
o The focus should be on identifying the loss of cash/stock and POL's view on how this happened. Other
issues should be cross-referred to elsewhere in the report or dealt with extremely quickly in the exec
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summary.
o Tony Hooper (the WG Chairman) has asked that we put a paragraph at the top of each exec summary
summarising the Applicant's complaint before setting out anything else.
« — Officer's reports:
o Post Office has taken a decision that it will not be disclosing "officer's reports" or other similar reports
from the Post Office security team — sample attached.
o This is because of various criminal law / prosecution issues.
o Wecan use information in the officer's report in Post Office's investigation report (indeed you may copy
the information word-for-word) but cannot refer to the officer's report or disclose them to Second
Sight.
o Insome places, that will mean making un-evidenced statements which are not supported by any
document however POL is happy with that risk.
co. If, further down the line, we receive a complaint from SS/the Applicant that the officer's report has not
be disclosed, please escalate to me.
o Note: sometimes these are also called offender's reports or investigation reports. If you are unsure,
speak to me.
* Sub-issues: in the body of Investigation Reports where we deal with each of the issues raised by the
Applicant, we need to clearly state for each issue (i) the Applicant's complaint and (ii) Post Office's view on
that complaint. We need to avoid providing commentary with no purpose or conclusions.
e — Part 1 Report — Second Sight will shortly be releasing their "Part 1 Report" which describes how Post Office's
systems and procedures work. This document also usefully describes a number of ways in which
subpostmasters can make errors that cause cash and stock to go missing. Once the Part 1 Report is formally
released it would be good to cross-refer to this (where appropriate) in the Post Office investigation reports as a
useful way to illustrate what is meant by "user error" or "operational error".
FYI - Given Claire's defection to the dark side, Alva is going to be stepping in to help with some of the more general
Scheme support work.
Finally — thanks all — your hard work is much appreciated.
Andy
Andrew Parsons
Senior Associate
for and on behalf of Bond Dickinson LLP
Follow Bond Dickinson:
SiinI
www.bonddickinson.com
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