Closing summary So, to sum up today’s business and trade committee hearing on the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and compensation to victims: Fujitsu, the Japanese technology firm that built the flawed Horizon IT system at the heart of the Post Office scandal, has admitted for the first time that it should contribute to financial redress for victims, which is estimated to reach £1bn. Its Europe chief executive Paul Patterson also apologised for the firm’s role in the scandal, saying: “We are truly sorry”. There is a moral obligation for the company to contribute. The right place to determine that is when our responsibility is very clear. There are many parties involved in this travesty.” The retired judge Sir Wyn Williams is leading an inquiry into the scandal. Patterson admitted that the firm had been aware of “bugs and errors” in the system since the 1990s, but insisted that they had been flagged to the Post Office. The Post Office is still using that IT system, but will get off it as soon as a new, modern system is in place, said Nick Read, the Post Office chief executive. MPs also heard from Alan Bates, who featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office that has captured the public imagination and brought the scandal back into the headlines, prompting the government to announce it would overturn all convictions under blanket legislation to be introduced within weeks. Bates said: There is no reason at all why full financial redress shouldn’t have been delivered by now. It’s gone on for far too long. People are suffering, they’re dying … And it just seems to be tied up in bureaucracy. And that seems to be the big problem. In moving testimony, another former post office operator, Jo Hamilton, who was forced to plead guilty to false accounting and whose conviction was later overturned, talked about how the process of claiming compensation is “almost like being retried”. The business minister, Kevin Hollinrake, said he hopes that compensation to victims will be paid out by August. “It’s more complex than we probably initially anticipated but is there ambition to get that money out the door as quickly as possible? That’s our number one priority.” Lord Arbuthnot, the peer who has long campaigned on behalf of Horizon victims, said the scandal went unquestioned for so long because it involved “people who have been convicted or pleaded guilty to crime up against the most trusted brand in the country”. The business and trade committee hearing is over. Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister, wrapped up by saying: There’s no shortage of appetite or willingness to do it, these things take longer than we expect. I’ve seen every compensation scheme I’ve ever worked with, as a backbencher. And there’s no difference with this one. It’s more complex than we probably initially anticipated but is there ambition to get that money out the door as quickly as possible? That’s our number one priority. Is it our ambition to make sure it is fair and seen to be fair? That’s our number two priority. Is it our ambition, our priority to make sure people are held to account for what’s gone wrong? Absolutely. That’s what the inquiry is there for.” Here is our full story on Fujitsu’s commitment to contribute to the compensation bill for wronged post office operators: Fujitsu, the technology firm that built the flawed Horizon IT system at the heart of the Post Office scandal, has admitted for the first time that it should contribute to financial redress for victims. During evidence sessions, at which MPs on the business and trade committee heard that Horizon victims were “falling apart” while waiting for compensation, Fujitsu’s European boss, Paul Patterson, admitted the firm had known the IT system was faulty since the 1990s. Asked if the Japanese-owned company should contribute to redress for victims, estimated to reach £1bn, he agree it should but said the exact amount would have to wait until the end of the inquiry, led by a judge, Sir Wyn Williams. Hollinrake said the government still expects total compensation to post office operators to hit £1bn, while Post Office boss Nick Read cast some doubt on that figure earlier. The minister said: The mass overturning of convictions will have a significant impact on the number of people that receive compensation and quite rightly so. 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. 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. 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 90% of claims within 40 working days. 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. 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 compensation payment, but that leaves us many questions which we need to put to the minister. Q Did you offset a provision for compensation against the tax that you paid to the exchequer? The Post Office boss said: There was a characterisation that bonuses have been somehow inflated as a consequence of the treatment of tax and the treatment of compensation. Let me assure you right now that that is absolutely not the case. We have not done that at all. He promised to provide more information to the business committee. Read told MPs: We have not brought private prosecutions within the Post Office on my watch, that has not occurred and it will not occur. We’re very, very clear about that. My job is not to go back and investigate what happened in the organisation pre 2015, 2010. I can see that’s immensely frustrating for you. But my job today is to run the post office to make sure that we have a post office that is fit for purpose. Q The fact that you’re not willing to look under the bonnet and answer questions because the inquiry should look at it indicates a lack of corporate curiosity I would disagree with that characterisation. My job is to create a culture where people are supporting and serving postmasters and that is my role. Read said that since the ITV drama on the scandal, 31 affected post office operators had contacted the Post Office directly. Earlier, MPs heard from Neil Hudgell, executive chairman at Hudgell Solicitors, which represents post office operators in the scandal, including 77 who have been wrongly convicted, that a further 200 had come forward. Q Do you have an estimate for what compensation Fujitsu will pay? Patterson said he did not have an estimate at present. It is right and proper that we allow the inquiry [run by the retired judge Sir Wyn Williams] to discover where the responsibility lies and responsibility lies in many places. And also inside Fujitsu. Post Office boss: "Committed to get off Horizon" once there is a new IT system Q Why is the Post Office still using the Horizon IT system? Post Office boss Nick Read said: I’m committed to get off Horizon and I’ve had that conversation regularly with Mr Patterson and we are both committed to make sure that there is a new and upgraded system. It’s outdated, it’s clunky, it’s old, it’s 25 years old, but it does what it’s meant to do… but we’re very clear that we need a modern system for a modern post office, and we will be getting off Horizon. Patterson said Fujitsu had not made a provision yet for its share of the compensation, but will do so. We expect to sit down with government to determine our contribution.