The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee of the House of Commons today launched an inquiry on issues emerging from the court cases over the Horizon IT system of the Post Office.
The inquiry will look at the impact on sub-postmasters and its effect on the future viability of the organisation, besides examining the lessons the Government and Post Office have learned from the scandal.
“Hundreds of sub-postmasters have suffered considerable distress, and many have had their lives ruined by the faults in the Horizon IT system,” said Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of the Committee.
“Following December’s High Court ruling in favour of the sub-postmasters, and the finding that Horizon was flawed, it’s right to examine what the Post Office Ltd and the Government have learned from this scandal and establish what steps they are taking to ensure something similar never happens again.”
The claimant sub-postmasters and Post Office have agreed to settle the long-running trial, a week before the High Court ruled on 16 December 2019 in favour of the sub-postmasters at the Horizon Issues trial, second of a series of trials brought out by 557 current and former sub-postmasters.
The judgment in the first trial in the case - Common Issues, which considered nature of the contract between the claimants and Post Office - were also in favour of the postmasters.
“The case also raises concerns about the damage caused to the relationship between Post Office Ltd and the sub-postmasters and about what this means for the future of our post-office network,” Reeves added.
“We will hear from sub-postmasters about the impact of Horizon on their lives and take the opportunity to hold executives from Post Office Ltd and Fujitsu to account for their handling of the problems around the Horizon IT and accounting system.”
Reeves has also written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to press for further details on the public inquiry on Horizon to which the Prime Minister appeared to commit during Prime Minister's Questions on 26 February.
Replying to a question by Labour MP Kate Osborne asking whether he will commit to launching an independent inquiry on the issue, Johnson has said: “I am indeed aware of the scandal to which the hon. Lady alludes and the disaster that has befallen many Post Office workers—I have met some of them myself. I am happy to commit to getting to the bottom of the matter in the way that she recommends.”
Brian McLister
