Compensation payments 'must not spill into next year' - Arbuthnot
The first question is put to Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a former MP who now sits in the House of Lords and who has campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters.
He's asked what he thinks emergency legislation needs to include in order to get to "real justice" for the sub-postmasters.
Arbuthnot says one of the major blockings in getting people compensations was that of the 900 plus convictions of sub-postmasters, only 95 of them had been overturned.
"All the rest were not able to claim any compensation," he says.
It is mass problem the British legal system has never had to deal with before, he says, and it needs a "mass solution".
Business and Trade CommitteeCopyright: Business and Trade Committee
He says he hopes people will be compensated before August.
Arbuthnot adds that compensation payment needs to be sped up with justice.
He says it is "essential for these people, who are living hand to mouth, some of them still bankrupt, that this money be paid as soon as possible".
He says it "mustn't spill into next year".
Committee hearing gets under way
The business select committee is starting now, with Dr Neil Hudgell, a solicitor who has represented most of the those who have successfully had their convictions overturned, and Lord Arbuthnot, a former MP who has campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters for several years, first to take questions from MPs.
Elsewhere, a public inquiry continues and is hearing evidence from a Fujitsu employee, the company behind the faulty Horizon software.
You can watch both on our live stream by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.
Fujitsu has key questions to answer
Simon Jack
Business editor
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Fujitsu is the private company at the heart of the Post Office scandal, which has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history.
The £20bn Japanese technology company developed the Horizon computer accounting system.
The European boss of Fujitsu, Paul Patterson, will face MPs on the Business and Trade select committee at 11:00 GMT today.
They want to know how faults with the Horizon system saw nearly a thousand Post Office branch managers prosecuted for theft and false accounting.
Fujitsu's long and continued position at the heart of government technology projects began when it acquired a British company called ICL in the 1990s. ICL was a bit like the UK version of IBM - a blue-chip company trusted by governments to deliver complex IT projects.
Buying it gave Fujitsu a seat at the top table when government contracts were awarded.
You
can just make out Jo Hamilton here - she’s a former sub-postmistress who is
here to give evidence today.
She’s speaking to the many reporters gathered here
for this select committee hearing when Fujitsu’s Paul Patterson is expected to
be questioned by MPs about the scandal.
Less busy but no less interest here at the inquiry
Sam Hancock
Live reporter at the Post Office inquiry
Hello again from Aldwych House in London, where there are fewer cameras outside and journalists inside than there were last week.
This is, of course, where the Post Office public inquiry is
taking place - and today we’re due to hear from an employee at Fujitsu, the company behind the faulty Horizon software.
Rajbinder Sangha is not the first person from the tech giant to give evidence at this inquiry, which, as a reminder, started in 2021, but this morning should still be interesting.
While there may be less of us in the room today that
doesn’t necessarily mean interest in this scandal is waning - rather there’s
another event that seems to be garnering a bit more attention.
Still, that won’t stop me bringing you the latest from
here. And as I wait to be let into the main inquiry room, I
thought I’d share a photo I took earlier when I realised what sits directly
next to this building:
BBCCopyright: BBC
What happened at the Post Office inquiry last week?
As we've mentioned, while the business select committee is taking place, the Post Office inquiry is also being held today.
Last week the government pledged to bring in a new law to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims" of the scandal.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons on Wednesday that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law.
The government confirmed it would introduce a one-off £75,000 payment for the 555 ex-postmasters whose group court case, led by Alan Bates, helped to expose the injustice.
However, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told the Commons former sub-postmasters and postmistresses would not be eligible for compensation until they had signed a declaration that they had not committed any crime.
Meanwhile, ex-Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw gave evidence to the inquiry on Thursday and denied he and colleagues behaved like "mafia gangsters" towards wrongly accused sub-postmasters.
On Friday, Chris Jackson, a lawyer acting for the Post Office, apologised for delays in the disclosure of documents to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Why is the Post Office scandal back in the news?
ITVCopyright: ITV
Toby Jones appeared as Alan Bates and Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne in the recent ITV dramaImage caption: Toby Jones appeared as Alan Bates and Julie Hesmondhalgh as Suzanne in the recent ITV drama
The ITV series Mr Bates Vs The Post Office has thrust the scandal into the national consciousness.
The show came out on New Year’s Day and follows the real story of postmaster Alan Bates and the legal battle he led and won against the Post Office.
Since the series aired on 1 January, more than 100 other potential victims have contacted their lawyers, claiming they were wrongly prosecuted by the institution.
The government announced plans to clear the names of hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the scandal.
A look at who's giving evidence to the committee
BBCCopyright: BBC
Alan Bates, from Llandudno, in Conwy, was one of the main claimants who brought a case against the Post OfficeImage caption: Alan Bates, from Llandudno, in Conwy, was one of the main claimants who brought a case against the Post Office
The Business and Trade select committee will take evidence from various stakeholders looking at the compensation for Post Office and Horizon victims. Here’s the order of their appearance:
10:00-10:30: Dr Neil Hudgell - leading the Post Office legal team at Hudgell Solicitors; and Lord Arbuthnot - a former MP who now sits in the House of Lords and has campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters for several years
10:30-11:00: Alan Bates - Founder at Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance; and Jo Hamilton - a former sub-postmistress from South Warnborough
11:00-11:30: Nick Read - Chief Executive at Post Office; and Paul Patterson - Director at Fujitsu Ltd
11:30-12:00: Kevin Hollinrake MP -Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business; and Carl Cresswell - Director, Business Resilience at the Department for Business and Trade
A busy day for Fujitsu
Sam Hancock
Live reporter at the Post Office inquiry
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Post Office scandal.
Today Fujitsu, the company that created the faulty IT software that led to the convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses, will have questions put to two of its employees at two high-profile events.
Paul Patterson, a director at the tech giant’s European arm, is due to appear before MPs on the business select committee less than a week after PM Rishi Sunak announced a new law to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims".
He’ll be joined by the likes of current Post Office boss Nick Read, former sub-postmaster Alan Bates and Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake.
At the exact same time - 10:00 - and less than two miles away, Rajbinder Sangha - formerly a member of Fujitsu’s fraud and litigation support office - will be sworn into the public inquiry.
I’m here, alongside the BBC's Zoe Conway, to bring you the latest from the inquiry while our colleagues back in the newsroom focus on what’s happening at Westminster.
It’s going to be a busy day - stick with us as all the action unfolds.
Live Reporting
Edited by Marita Moloney and Aoife Walsh
All times stated are UK
Get involved
Compensation payments 'must not spill into next year' - Arbuthnot
The first question is put to Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom, a former MP who now sits in the House of Lords and who has campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters.
He's asked what he thinks emergency legislation needs to include in order to get to "real justice" for the sub-postmasters.
Arbuthnot says one of the major blockings in getting people compensations was that of the 900 plus convictions of sub-postmasters, only 95 of them had been overturned.
"All the rest were not able to claim any compensation," he says.
It is mass problem the British legal system has never had to deal with before, he says, and it needs a "mass solution".
He says he hopes people will be compensated before August.
Arbuthnot adds that compensation payment needs to be sped up with justice.
He says it is "essential for these people, who are living hand to mouth, some of them still bankrupt, that this money be paid as soon as possible".
He says it "mustn't spill into next year".
Committee hearing gets under way
The business select committee is starting now, with Dr Neil Hudgell, a solicitor who has represented most of the those who have successfully had their convictions overturned, and Lord Arbuthnot, a former MP who has campaigned on behalf of sub-postmasters for several years, first to take questions from MPs.
Elsewhere, a public inquiry continues and is hearing evidence from a Fujitsu employee, the company behind the faulty Horizon software.
You can watch both on our live stream by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.
Fujitsu has key questions to answer
Simon Jack
Business editor
Fujitsu is the private company at the heart of the Post Office scandal, which has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history.
The £20bn Japanese technology company developed the Horizon computer accounting system.
The European boss of Fujitsu, Paul Patterson, will face MPs on the Business and Trade select committee at 11:00 GMT today.
They want to know how faults with the Horizon system saw nearly a thousand Post Office branch managers prosecuted for theft and false accounting.
Fujitsu's long and continued position at the heart of government technology projects began when it acquired a British company called ICL in the 1990s. ICL was a bit like the UK version of IBM - a blue-chip company trusted by governments to deliver complex IT projects.
Buying it gave Fujitsu a seat at the top table when government contracts were awarded.
Fujitsu has key questions to answer.
Jo Hamilton arrives at select committee hearing
Esyllt Carr
Business reporter at the committee hearing
You can just make out Jo Hamilton here - she’s a former sub-postmistress who is here to give evidence today.
She’s speaking to the many reporters gathered here for this select committee hearing when Fujitsu’s Paul Patterson is expected to be questioned by MPs about the scandal.
Less busy but no less interest here at the inquiry
Sam Hancock
Live reporter at the Post Office inquiry
Hello again from Aldwych House in London, where there are fewer cameras outside and journalists inside than there were last week.
This is, of course, where the Post Office public inquiry is taking place - and today we’re due to hear from an employee at Fujitsu, the company behind the faulty Horizon software.
Rajbinder Sangha is not the first person from the tech giant to give evidence at this inquiry, which, as a reminder, started in 2021, but this morning should still be interesting.
While there may be less of us in the room today that doesn’t necessarily mean interest in this scandal is waning - rather there’s another event that seems to be garnering a bit more attention.
Still, that won’t stop me bringing you the latest from here. And as I wait to be let into the main inquiry room, I thought I’d share a photo I took earlier when I realised what sits directly next to this building:
What happened at the Post Office inquiry last week?
As we've mentioned, while the business select committee is taking place, the Post Office inquiry is also being held today.
Last week the government pledged to bring in a new law to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims" of the scandal.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons on Wednesday that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law.
The government confirmed it would introduce a one-off £75,000 payment for the 555 ex-postmasters whose group court case, led by Alan Bates, helped to expose the injustice.
However, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told the Commons former sub-postmasters and postmistresses would not be eligible for compensation until they had signed a declaration that they had not committed any crime.
Meanwhile, ex-Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw gave evidence to the inquiry on Thursday and denied he and colleagues behaved like "mafia gangsters" towards wrongly accused sub-postmasters.
On Friday, Chris Jackson, a lawyer acting for the Post Office, apologised for delays in the disclosure of documents to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Why is the Post Office scandal back in the news?
The ITV series Mr Bates Vs The Post Office has thrust the scandal into the national consciousness.
The show came out on New Year’s Day and follows the real story of postmaster Alan Bates and the legal battle he led and won against the Post Office.
Since the series aired on 1 January, more than 100 other potential victims have contacted their lawyers, claiming they were wrongly prosecuted by the institution.
The government announced plans to clear the names of hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the scandal.
A look at who's giving evidence to the committee
The Business and Trade select committee will take evidence from various stakeholders looking at the compensation for Post Office and Horizon victims. Here’s the order of their appearance:
A busy day for Fujitsu
Sam Hancock
Live reporter at the Post Office inquiry
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Post Office scandal.
Today Fujitsu, the company that created the faulty IT software that led to the convictions of hundreds of sub-postmasters and postmistresses, will have questions put to two of its employees at two high-profile events.
Paul Patterson, a director at the tech giant’s European arm, is due to appear before MPs on the business select committee less than a week after PM Rishi Sunak announced a new law to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims".
He’ll be joined by the likes of current Post Office boss Nick Read, former sub-postmaster Alan Bates and Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake.
At the exact same time - 10:00 - and less than two miles away, Rajbinder Sangha - formerly a member of Fujitsu’s fraud and litigation support office - will be sworn into the public inquiry.
I’m here, alongside the BBC's Zoe Conway, to bring you the latest from the inquiry while our colleagues back in the newsroom focus on what’s happening at Westminster.
It’s going to be a busy day - stick with us as all the action unfolds.