A few moments ago we were hearing from former sub-postmasters about their experiences.

Tim Brentnall voiced his scepticism about how quickly his claim would be responded to and said that although the compensation money would help him, his priority was to put the Post Office behind him.

Here you can watch him explain that he's expecting a baby with his partner and wants to move on with his life.

Post Office CEO Nick Read tells MPs about the work being done by the organisation to improve the culture and perceptions of the Post Office.

Read says they are making teams visit branches and have schemes to support postmasters going through difficulties in their branches.

"We have two postmasters on the board," he says adding the firm is "working hard to challenge perceptions of the Post Office".

Post Office executives have barely taken their seats when Byrne launches in with a question.

He addresses Nick Read, the chief executive:

"Mr Read, have you been dragging your feet in paying redress to the victims of this injustice?"

Read's response is to deny that.

But he does admit that one of the schemes, the Overturned Convictions Scheme, which provides interim payments to sub-postmasters before they have submitted their full claims is "slower than we would want it to be".

Byrne then turns his attention to the ongoing row between Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch and the ex-Post Office chair, Henry Staunton.

Staunton has claimed he had been told by government officials to stall Post Office payouts to allow the government to "limp into the election", a claim Kemi Badenoch has furiously denied.

Read says "categorically" that neither he nor his team were told to slow down payments.

Byrne asks Read if he believes Staunton's claims and if not, whether he is lying.

"Well I don't believe that is the case....I think he's misinterpreted or perhaps misunderstood the conversation he had," Read says.

Image source, Post Office Media

Current Post Office CEO Nick Read is expected to update MPs today on progress to redress victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

Read took charge of the Post Office in September 2019, taking over from Paula Vennells.

According to the organisation’s website, he has “over 25 years of consumer and commercial experience”.

His biography states he has previously held senior roles at Tesco, Vodafone, HBOS, Lloyds Banking Group and Thomas Cook. He has also worked for Deloitte and Aldi UK, and spent four years with the British Armed Forces.

Last month, Read appeared at the Post Office Inquiry where he insisted the organisation had “drastically changed”.

During evidence, he blamed a "culture of denial" for the company dragging its feet on compensation, conceding the Post Office could ultimately face liabilities of close to £1bn.

He also said he doesn’t believe the Post Office will perform any further private prosecutions, after the Horizon scandal led to calls for the organisation to be stripped of its prosecutorial powers.

Image source, UK Parliament

Up next, we're hearing from executives at the Post Office. They include:

• Nick Read, chief executive
• Ben Tidswell, chair of its remediation committee
• Simon Recaldin, remediation matters director
• Simon Oldnall, Horizon and GLO IT director

They've been asked to take the oath and will likely face questions from MPs not only on the redress schemes for sub-postmasters, but also about the bitter row that has broken out between the government and the former chairman of the Post Office, Henry Staunton.

Chair Liam Byrne asks the lawyers how long it could be until Post Office IT scandal victims will receive full and final redress.

James Hartley, of Freeths, estimates between "one and two years".

Dr Neil Hudgell agrees with Hartley.

Byrne says when the bill comes to the House of Commons "we are going to have to amend it so there are hard legally binding deadlines for redress".

Image source, Parliament TV

James Hartley, one of the lawyers acting for sub-postmasters and mistresses, is now answering questions about the GLO scheme - one of the avenues for compensation for victims.

He explains that the current process, by which they prepare their clients’ cases and then have to request the Post Office disclose their evidence, is significantly delaying claims.

"By my estimate it would take six months or more for the Post Office to disclose records," Hartley says.

When asked why it is taking so long, he responds: "It is inescapable, I think, probably a degree of deep incompetence and inefficiency."

Hartley goes on to say that he recommends the Post Office is not involved in the process because of the delays but also the impact it has on victims:

"It would be beneficial to have no contact at all with the Post Office because [the sub-postmasters] have had enough contact with the Post Office."

As we've been reporting, Alan Bates has said he wants the compensation scheme for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal to speed up.

He also had an issue with calling the money due to sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses under the GLO scheme as "compensation", saying it is financial redress.

Watch as he tells MPs to "just get on and pay people".

We'll hear from some of the former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses' lawyers next.

Appearing in front of MPs, we have Dr Neil Hudgell, the executive chairman of Hudgell Solicitors, and we will also hear from James Hartley of Freeths.

Both law firms deal with a large number of the former branch operators, and Hudgell has in the past warned of his concern that some may see time run out before a resolution is reached.

You can read more about his client Tony Downey's case, who we heard from earlier, here.

Image source, House of Commons

That's it for the evidence of former sub-postmasters Alan Bates, Tony Downey and Tim Brentnall.

Chair Liam Byrne closes this part of the committee's hearing - but before he does so he gives a short comment saying he is "shocked and saddened" to hear none of the three men have seen "any acceleration in speed in fixing their redress".

"What has been offered is inadequate and unfair," he adds.

The last question directed at Bates by the chair of the committee, is what he would do if he made the law.

"We've got a bill coming towards us quite soon, I'm quite interested to know how would you like us to amend it?," Byrne asks.

The Labour MP is referring to new legislation planned by the government, which aims to clear the names of wrongly convicted postmasters. The new law is expected to come into effect by the end of July and will apply to convictions in England and Wales.

Bates jokes that postmasters could stand as MPs "and then we'll sort it out once and for all".

In a more serious tone he says he wants to "clear up the disclosure [of documents] issue".

A letter from Bates is then referenced in which he calls for "legally binding timetables" for the Post Office to stick to "and penalties if they're not met", with the money going to victims as "compensation for having to wait".

Earier, he called the Post Office "a dead duck and it has been for years".

"You should sell it to someone like Amazon for £1," he suggested.

Image source, UK Parliament

Tim Brentnall is asked by Labour MP Ian Lavery about progress to his claim, which has taken him three years to build.

"It is so complex because the business I had was a small business with a Post Office and a small fish and chip shop," he explains to the committee.

"We have had to evidence every kind of loss since I was prosecuted. We don't have all the documents from 15 years ago."

Brentnall says his claim is "almost ready to go in" but voices his scepticism about how quickly it will be responded to.

He adds: "We have always been told we have to go into this amount of detail because it is public money.

"It feels like I'm picking crumbs from the table."

Bates tells MPs he's not happy with the speed of compensation.

He tells chair Liam Byrne that the Post Office's attempts to redress the Horizon scandal are not getting faster and fairer.

"Speaking personally of my claim, I can say no, it isn't," he says.

Going into specifics he says "what's frustrating" is that the Post Office already had the names of the people they had to do disclosures on "but they didn't do anything".

He says they could be "a year ahead" if this had already happened.

"Pay people. There's a lot of distractions and a lot of other things brought up all the time - but just get on and pay people," the Post Office scandal campaigner tells MPs.

Bates adds this has been going on "for years" and "I can't see any end to it".

He also questions the framing of money due to sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses under the GLO scheme as "compensation".

"It's not - it's financial redress. This is money these people are actually owed and they've been owed it for years.

"Compensation sounds like something at the benefit, at the whim, of the government and all the rest of it... Let's get it right and let's really push forward on that aspect," Bates adds.

Alan Bates is a former sub-postmaster who led the campaign to expose the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Bates founded the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance, and he and five others took the Post Office to the High Court in 2017.

He continues to campaign for all sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon software failure and for fair compensation from the government.

Bates' two-decade fight inspired the recent ITV mini-series - Mr Bates vs the Post Office - which told the story of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were wrongly prosecuted after a faulty accounting system suggested money was missing from Post Office branches.

After a brief break, the session re-starts with new witnesses on the panel. They are:

• Alan Bates, former sub-postmaster and founder of Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance - who has given evidence to the committee before
• Tony Downey, former sub-postmaster
• Tim Brentnall, former sub-postmaster

Image source, PRU

Simon Jack
Business editor

Carl Creswell says Post Office senior independent director Ben Tidswell told him that other board members would have resigned if former chair, Henry Staunton, wasn't sacked over his conduct.

That behaviour included the chair trying to silence a whistleblower complaining about his behaviour, Creswell says, and also trying to bypass the normal board appointments process.

As a reminder, Staunton will give evidence later, and earlier said he was looking forward to getting his side across.

Answering a question about the number of claimants who have rejected their first offer, Creswell says that six claims have so far been rejected, compared with 80 that have been accepted.

But he adds "that doesn't mean that al of those will go to Sir Ross of course" - referring to the independent reviewer who is among the speakers appearing before MPs today.

Labour MP Ian Lavery then asks Mark Chesher to explain why an individual claimant might think that the offer they received isn't acceptable.

He describes the compensation for personal damage, loss to reputation, harassment, distress and inconvenience as a "difficult element to value".

However, "the law has to come up with a figure as a proxy for that distress and inconvenient damage", he stresses.

Image source, PRU

Image source, PA Media

We're hearing this morning about the GLO compensation scheme and how many claimants have already come forward.

Yesterday the government announced new measures to speed up compensation for victims of the Post Office scandal.

Announcing measures in the House of Commons, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake confirmed hundreds of people who were wrongly convicted would see their interim compensation payments increase, once they have submitted a full claim.

An interim payment of £450,000 will be available to all those sub-postmasters and mistresses who had convictions overturned, up from the current level of £163,000.

Payments will be available to members of the Overturned Convictions Scheme and made while victims' final settlements are processed.

Legislation to clear wrongly convicted sub-postmasters is also expected to be brought forward next month.

Oliver Smith
Reporting from Portcullis House

Waiting photographers leap into action every time a car or taxi pulls up outside Portcullis House in Westminster.

But there is still no sign of Alan Bates, who led the campaign to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal and was the central character depicted in the ITV drama.

Still a bit of time to go though, he’s not up in front of MPs with other former sub-postmasters until 11:00 GMT.