Post Office Update

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, no one who knows this story can feel other than shame that a government-owned institution, the Post Office, oversaw—nay, facilitated—the biggest miscarriage of justice that we have seen, with nearly 1,000 false prosecutions as well as bankruptcies, prison and unemployment all flowing from the actions of Fujitsu and the Post Office, and indeed from the lack of action from the Post Office’s shareholder, the Government.

The Minister knows we are delighted that the inquiry will now be statutory—though somewhat bemused that it has taken a month for the Government to reach that conclusion—and that a progress report will be made public, but there remain other concerns. First, while we agree with the Statement that

“We cannot undo the damage”,


we can move faster and with generosity on the question of compensation. Perhaps the Minister can explain why the inquiry will not cover compensation, and assure us that speed will be of the essence in beginning to help those so badly affected by this sorry saga. Can he update the House on the appointment of a new Post Office director to handle compensation and ensure that this will not replicate the disgraceful Windrush scheme?

Secondly, there is the major issue of the lack of accountability of those who were deeply implicated in the lies and lack of openness that led to the prosecutions and the delay in dealing with the results. Michael Keegan was Fujitsu’s chief executive when the company was telling the Post Office that Horizon was fine and when its staff were even appearing in court as prosecution witnesses against the sub-postmasters. He does not appear to have suffered any penalty and indeed is now a Crown representative at the Cabinet Office, where he oversees the Government’s relationships with suppliers. Given that Fujitsu continues to work with the Post Office, a £42 million extension to the Horizon contract having been agreed with the Post Office last month, can the Minister assure the House that Mr Keegan would have had no role in any such decision?

We continue to worry about the role that Fujitsu played in covering up concerns about Horizon and in facilitating the blame-shifting to sub-postmasters and their subsequent prosecutions, actions for which the company appears not to have paid a penny in compensation. What discussions are taking place in that regard?

The Post Office, which now wants taxpayers to take on its liabilities over this issue, has still not explained why no one questioned how it was that a vast cohort of upright citizens—people selected and trusted to run sub-post offices and handle public money—all at the same moment became petty thieves, as if a dishonesty virus had suddenly taken hold. Did nobody notice? The management incompetence at the highest level, as senior directors watched unlikely criminals paraded in court, still beggars belief.

I turn to the Government, the Post Office’s only shareholder, which somehow failed to spot what journalists, the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, and finally the court did: that the Post Office was abusing its power over postmasters, failing to question Fujitsu and prosecuting a swathe of unlikely thieves. Will the Minister acknowledge the Government’s failure of oversight and due diligence, with drastic consequences both for individuals and for taxpayers?

We welcome the fact that the inquiry will now be statutory, but my plea to the Minister is: will he ensure that in parallel to the inquiry the Government themselves take a close look at how they oversee not just the Post Office but all expenditure, personnel and IT decisions to ensure that there is sufficient curiosity, challenge, openness and honesty, so that taxpayers’ money and people’s lives are never again put at the risk of a saga like this one?