Post Office: Horizon Compensation

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement and in anticipation of answering my questions. He has often been on the right side of this debate, and I thank him for that. The biggest and most frequent criticisms that your Lordships’ House has had are threefold—some have been answered—the time taken to deliver compensation, who gets it, and the levels and amounts. Many of those issues have now been resolved over previous months and with this Statement. March’s announcement that 555 sub-postmasters would receive the compensation that they were entitled to was welcome, as is today’s further announcement confirming a £19.5 million interim compensation package.

However, it is frustrating that it has taken so long to reach this point, when what was needed to be done has been clear and obvious for many years. I am sure that we all agree that the victims of this scandal have been made to endure this stressful uncertainty for far too long.

It is clear that the positive resolution we have now reached is thanks to the tireless work of campaigners both inside and outside this place. That includes, as ever from this place, the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, and from the other place, Kevan Jones. Both have done a tremendous job in fighting this injustice. To be fair, the Minister here and Minister Scully have acted where their predecessors have failed to.

We all know the history of this case, so I will not rehearse the arguments. It is well-documented, both here in Parliament and across the media. We all hope that this sad episode will drive lasting change. The shame of this miscarriage will, rightly, be felt across government for many years to come.

I have a few questions for the Minister; he has touched on some already, and I am looking for more details on others. Can he provide a timescale for when all compensation payments will be made? Will the Minister confirm that the compensation will not affect the Post Office’s core funding, its day-to-day operations or its viability in any way, given the vital role that it performs in many, if not all, our communities? The Minister knows that, across this House, we have called for those involved to be held accountable. Can he update the House—he has a little already—on the ongoing investigations, specifically into Fujitsu and others involved in the technology that led to this failure? Has Fujitsu been sanctioned? Have any of its other contracts been re-evaluated, checked or looked at?

It is not just those external to government. The Minister has previously committed to hold those responsible to account—by that, I mean the Post Office board. Can the Government confirm that the inquiry will extend to the directors of the Post Office, including those placed there by the department—those who wrongly sanctioned legal action? While affected postmasters have lost thousands in legal costs, this is far from all they have lost. The Minister touched on the non-pecuniary damages, but I wonder if he could say a little more. The financials have been restored but, as he and the Statement said, many people were affected in many ways other than financial.

Last year’s historical shortfall scheme for non-GLO postmasters included interim payments, which are urgently needed both for those living in poverty and to start bringing closure to this ordeal. I think the Minister said he expects the payments to start within two weeks, but can he confirm that this will be the case, and will they cover all those affected?

To take a step back, in his High Court judgment in the Horizon IT systems case, Justice Fraser stated that the denial by the Post Office

“amounts to the 21st century equivalent of maintaining that the earth is flat.”

His judgment into this scheme went on to state that the Post Office showed

“the most dreadful complacency, and total lack of interest in investigating these serious issues”.

Will the Post Office now introduce an independent component when conducting prosecutions so that if there are any future prosecutions in other areas, there will be an independent component before taking them to the next stage?

This whole ordeal around the wrongful prosecution of sub-postmasters has caused a huge waste of public funds and time, as well as a huge deal of mental anguish to those wrongfully prosecuted. Can the Government ensure that such a huge level of carelessness and complacency is never repeated so that we can avoid a further waste of public funds, as well as the stress caused by this ordeal?

All sides of this House are rightly united and outraged at what the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses experienced and the injustices they suffered for almost 25 years. Lives have been unjustly destroyed, and jobs lost. Some have been imprisoned and others lost their business, and many had the prospect of having a conviction hanging over them. Saddest of all, some did not live to see justice finally restored.