From 1h agoKey events51m agoPost Office boss: ‘Committed to get off Horizon’ once there is a new IT system1h agoPatterson: ‘Bugs and errors’ in IT system ‘at a very early stage’ and were flagged to Post Office1h agoFujitsu Europe boss: ‘Moral obligation for the company to contribute’ to compensation1h agoFujitsu Europe boss: ‘We are truly sorry’ for role in Horizon scandal2h agoHorizon inquiry: Fujitsu knew that faulty IT system could lead to a legal challenge as early as 20082h agoEx-post office operator Hamilton: Compensation process ‘like being retried’2h agoBates: Compensation process ‘frustrating,’ ‘people are suffering, they’re dying’2h agoArbuthnot: ‘cases need urgent overturning’ as ‘can’t have more people going to their graves with convictions’3h agoIntroduction: Post Office, Fujitsu bosses and government to be quizzed by MPs over Horizon scandalFilters BETAKey events (9)Post Office (22)Fujitsu (14)Paul Patterson (7)Jo Hamilton (7)Horizon (7)3m ago07.56 EST
Q How do you ensure compensation is adequate and includes the impact on family members?
Hollinrake says the situations are “heart breaking” but added, as with other scandals, there is “nervousness around directly compensating family members”.
It would hugely increase the scope and complexity of the compensation schemes… So it wouldn’t be an easy thing to do to open it up to family members, but I understand the point you’re making.
14m ago07.45 EST
Hollinrake also admitted that the government could have done better.
I don’t think we’ve been sufficiently challenging… It would have been resolved earlier if we’d been more challenging earlier, but we all make mistakes.
I’m not gonna blame any one of my predecessors specifically but clearly we could have done better.
17m ago07.42 EST
He added:
There are lawyers on either side of the equation so it does take, it can take time to negotiate those deals.
We’ve made a commitment that we will respond to all submitted claims, 90% of claims, within 40 working days.
Updated at 07.58 EST22m ago07.38 EST
Business minister Kevin Hollinrake and Carl Creswell from the business department are now testifying.
Hollinrake says he is expecting legislation on overturning the wrongful convictions of hundreds of post office operators “within weeks”.
Q When will all the compensation be paid? No 10 is briefing by the end of the year.
I very much hope that it will be by August.
Updated at 07.41 EST24m ago07.35 EST
Business committee chair Liam Byrne sums up the session thus:
You’ve not been able to supply the committee with key events in the timeline such as when the Post Office first knew that remote access [to the IT system at branches] was possible.
You’ve told us that you haven’t kept evidence safe about what money was paid to you inappropriately and therefore is owed back and you can’t estimate the scale of compensation. We are grateful for the moral commitment from Fujitsu that they will share in the…
2024-01-16 07:40:02
Article from www.theguardian.com
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