Post Office Horizon

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Lords Chamber

“Members will know that the Government made a key manifesto commitment to ensure that justice and compensation are delivered as swiftly as possible for every postmaster caught up in the Horizon scandal. The Secretary of State has already met Sir Alan Bates, Kevan Jones and the chair of the Post Office, Nigel Railton, to discuss the progress being made and what more can be done. The Government intend to make a significant announcement on the new redress scheme before the Summer Recess. This scheme will apply to postmasters whose convictions have been overturned by the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, passed in the last Parliament”.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (Baroness Jones of Whitchurch) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to make this new Government’s first Statement in your Lordships’ House on the Horizon scandal. It was one of the Government’s key manifesto commitments to ensure that full and fair compensation is delivered for every sub-postmaster caught up in the Horizon scandal.

I echo what my colleague Justin Madders MP said in the other place. This has been a huge miscarriage of justice and I am deeply grateful to those sub-postmasters who pursued justice against the odds. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their tireless campaigning. I am also deeply grateful to colleagues in this House, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, and in the other place for their work in righting this wrong.

The Secretary of State for Business and Trade has already met with Alan Bates, Kevan Jones and Nigel Railton to discuss progress and what more can be done. We intend to make another announcement on the redress scheme before the Summer Recess and to help those whose convictions were overturned in the last Parliament.

[Lord Offord of Garvel (Con)]

I welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, to her place on the Front Bench. I am glad that the Government are picking up with a sense of urgency the last piece of business that went through this House before the general election. At this point we might take a moment to congratulate the tireless campaigner Alan Bates on his recent knighthood. It reflects the will of the people to congratulate him on his tireless campaigning on this matter over 20 years.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 was an unprecedented piece of legislation that overturned the convictions of 800-plus postmasters and postmistresses. However, the Act quashes convictions but does not provide compensation. That is what we need to turn our attention to now. Can the Minister please clarify whether the July deadline for the letters offering the final settlement of £600,000 to go out to the 800-plus postmasters and postmistresses will be met? Has the Horizon shortfall scheme been implemented, allowing the additional £75,000 top-up? When the Minister says that this will be done before Recess, does she realise that is next Tuesday?

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his kind comments and welcome him to his new role. I echo his congratulations to Alan Bates on his very well-deserved knighthood.

Obviously, we are awaiting the details of the scheme, but once they are in place the follow-up letters will go out at pace. As the noble Lord knows, in the meantime we are implementing the £75,000 fixed sum awards and we will set out further plans for that in due course. I take note that the beginning of the Recess is next week, and I hope to come back with further information in the meantime.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, I also welcome the noble Baroness to her position, which I believe spans two departments. I am not quite sure what she has done to deserve that. I associate myself with the remarks made by the spokesperson for His Majesty’s Opposition and credit him for the energy he brought to this subject in the latter half of the last Parliament.

In those discussions, there was a group of people who are still not covered by what we are doing: the unsuccessful appellants of the case. There was a small but significant number who had the courage to take their case to appeal, lost their appeal and are now hanging outside this scheme. I spoke to the last Government in both this place and the other place about the reasons for that. I understand the reasons around the judicial nature of what has gone on, but can the Minister assure us that these people are not forgotten and that a route is being sought to make sure they get the same of level of redress received by the others as a result of the legislation?

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, of course we are mindful of those cases and are carefully watching the numbers that remain in that camp. The usual routes of appeal remain for those cases. In particular, those individuals can apply to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to be referred back to the Court of Appeal, if it considers that

“there is a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld were a reference to be made”.

I hope that advice will be taken by a number of those individuals.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, for nearly 20 years, institutions of government and corporations claimed that there was nothing wrong with the prosecutions of sub-postmasters. Now, of course, we know different. With that in mind, I urge the Minister to appoint an independent inquiry into the 100 or so convictions of sub-postmasters that were secured by the Department for Work and Pensions. In many cases, the affected individuals have passed away and their families are traumatised.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very good point. He is absolutely right about the long delays that took place, and I think we around this House have all accepted that that was unacceptable. I hope that all parts of government have learned the lesson from that. On the individuals and the question of whether there should be an independent inquiry, we believe that the best way to deal with this issue now is through the current arrangements being set up, rather than by having another third party involved. I am sure that all these matters will be taken into account in the eventual recommendations.