Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on when the Principal Accounting Officer with responsibility for the Post Office Ltd became aware that the Horizon Accounting System was faulty.

Concerns about the Horizon system were raised with the Department publicly, including in Parliament, and these are a matter of public record. BEIS relied on the Post Office’s management to investigate issues with the Horizon system and was assured that the system was robust and that the issues raised by the postmasters were being handled appropriately. The Department was aware upon the handing down of the Common Issues Judgement by Justice Fraser in March 2019 that there were serious issues with the Horizon IT System. This was confirmed in the Horizon Issues Judgement in December 2019.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, led by Sir Wyn Williams, will establish a clear account of the implementation and failings of Horizon over its lifecycle and the Department is fully cooperating with the Inquiry as are both the Post Office and Fujitsu.