Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 20
Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report
Published 17 Feb 2022
Paragraph 54
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Post Office and Horizon All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The fact that the Post Office and BEIS officials admitted that they underestimated the number of potential claims is telling and indeed, troubling, and suggests that they may not have appreciated the true extent of the Horizon scandal. We acknowledge that the Post Office and the Minister expect to have processed the vast majority if not all claims by the end of 2022. The Minister and his officials have confirmed that the UKGI representative on the Post Office Board and the BEIS’s Post Office Team will hold Post Office Ltd.’s “feet to the fire”. Both BEIS and UKGI should be held accountable for this oversight role.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eighth Report - Post Office and Horizon - Compensation: interim report (HC 1129), paragraph 54, 17 February 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 April 2022 (deadline 17 April 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government accepts several of the Committee's recommendations on transparency and the Historical Shortfall Scheme, but does not propose to set up the recommended new independent body for wrongly convicted postmasters.
- On the 555 group litigants, the government says it "will make funding available" so they are "not financially disadvantaged" by litigating, and will announce the results of informal consultation to Parliament "in the coming weeks".
- On an independent body, it is "concerned that setting up such a body would take significant time". It is instead working with existing bodies such as the CCRC, and has encouraged the Post Office to appoint an intermediary body.
- It "accepts" the recommendation on monthly updates on payments, to be published on the Post Office website, with the range of final settlement amounts released only once "a critical mass of settlements has been reached" for privacy reasons.
- On targets for Historical Shortfall Scheme offers, it accepts the recommendation but suggests BEIS updates on oversight actions "on a quarterly, rather than monthly basis".