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Dear Ms Willott,
Thank you for your letter of XX April, and for enclosing the letter from Alan Bates,
from the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, dated 16" April. As you state, the
matters raised in Mr Bates’ letter -are operational concerns which are my
responsibility. I therefore welcome this opportunity to set the record straight.—
Since the publication of the Second Sight interim report in July 2013, Post Office has
worked collaboratively with JFSA and Second Sight to design and implement the
Initial Complaint Review and Mediation Scheme. The Scheme documentation was
agreed with all members of the Working Group, indeed JFSA published the material
on their website.
Fhe-Post Office has remained committed to the aims of the Scheme. We have
appointed Sir Anthony Hooper as independent Chair of the Working Group and
devoted- substantial time and resources- to ensure its success.
As recently as 24 March 2014, we shared a platform -with JFSA and Second Sight to
communicate the progress that had been made under the Scheme and I was
encouraged then by their commitment to allowing the Scheme to run
Against that background Mr Bates’ letter- has come as a shock and a disappointment
to me.- Three aspects of the letter cause me particular concern:
1. Contrary to the Working Group’s Terms of Reference, tFhe content of the
letter discloses outside the Working Group information which is breaches-the
apparent general complaint that Post Office is somehow solely responsible for
letter from- the Working Group Chair, Sir Anthony Hooper, correcting some of
the- inaccuracies.
3. Mr Bates has bypassed the -Working Group to raise his concerns. This is
particularly disappointing and contrary to the spirit eads-mete-questionthe
good faith had expected tf Hy bers-of the Working Group.
Fhe believe Post Office's commitment to the Scheme iscan-be demonstrated by the
substantial resources we have committed to it, including:
a. paying professional advisors- to help each applicant complete the Case
Questionnaire Review needed for the Scheme.
b. appointing 22 investigators to work on the cases along with a dedicated
programme team to support the Scheme.
c. paying Second Sight and JFSA to take part in the Working Group and
paying Second Sight to investigate each case.
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Whilst it4s- has taken Post Office longer to progress investigations than we originally
envisaged, -we have now:
received 77 detailed applications
completed investigations in 22 cases
produced 16 reports and submitted them to the Working Group
-42 cases currently under investigation.
aoop
Despite the progress that is being madeNevertheless, as the Scheme enters this
critical phase, I do have some concerns about it more generally. In particular:
a. I am worried about Second Sight’s capacity and capability to investigate all
cases. Their first draft report has been shared with Post Office for a second
time on 8 May 2014 and I have asked my General Counsel to write
expressing our dissatisfaction with the quality of the work.
b. JFSA continue to operate outside of the Working Group. -aadThey have
not acknowledged or taken responsibility for their disclosure of information
that is confidential to the Working Group members, nor taken other steps to
reassure the other members of the Working Group they recognise the
importance of its work and their adherence to rules designed to ensure its
proper functioning. shewed-ne-+remorse forthe breach-of confidentiality.
c. We still have seen no evidence of problems with Horizon but we continue to
spend substantial sums of money on the Scheme. In line with HMT guidance
on managing public money we must be prudent in our use of public funds and
I am monitoring this issue carefully.
Post Office has displayed a strong commitment to the Scheme over a prolonged
period of time.-and wVV-e do not agree-+recegnise with the picture that Mr Bates has
painted in his letter. The JFSA has been closely involved in the design and
working from-dayene-The success of the mediation scheme is predicated on the
support of all members - including JFSA.
Post Office has been working hard to ensure that any cases submitted to the
mediation scheme are investigated as thoroughly as possible, and we remain
committed to resolving all outstanding cases. This remains our primary concern.
But, in light of Mr Bates’ letter, I have asked-te the Board to consider Post Office’s
position in relation to the Scheme over the coming days.
Yours sincerely
PV