We're ending our live coverage of the Post Office inquiry for today.

Proceedings will resume at 10:00 on Tuesday, 16 January. Up for questioning is Rajbinder Sangha, the release management co-ordinator at Fujitsu - the company at the centre of the controversial Post Office IT system.

He is also a former member of Fujitsu’s fraud and litigation support office.

In the meantime, we have plenty of stories and explainers on the inquiry you can read, including:

• A comprehensive look at what the Horizon saga is all about
• Revelations that the Post Office lied and threatened BBC over Horizon whistleblower
• And the latest development that Fujitsu won a Foreign Office contract despite concerns

This coverage was brought to you by Emily McGarvey, Paul Gribben, Victoria Lindrea, Natasha Preskey, Catherine McGowan, Anna Boyd and Emily Atkinson.

Thank you.

The latest phase of the Post Office inquiry, which started in February 2021, resumed on Thursday with evidence from Stephen Bradshaw, a former Post Office investigator.

It was preceded by an announcement from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law.

The Scottish government also announced a similar plan for those convicted in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.

Downing Street said its aim was to complete the process of overturning the convictions of those affected by the end of this year.

The prime minister's spokesman said the government intended to "introduce the legislation within weeks" and was "confident it will be well-supported".

The government also 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 (NB: most of the 555 were not criminally convicted)
• allow those whose convictions are overturned by the new law to sign a form, declaring their innocence, which will entitle them to £600,000 compensation
• review whether people whose convictions were upheld after an appeal can also be overturned by the new law
• work with administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure sub-postmasters in those nations can also be cleared

Image source, Reuters

Away from the inquiry hearing, we report that Fujitsu won a £184m government contract in 2021 despite concerns that the system it was offering was likely to be "unfit for purpose".

The Japanese-owned firm is at the heart of the long-running Post Office IT scandal.

Court documents reveal the Foreign Office had originally wanted to rehire Vodafone for the contract to supply communications equipment but it re-ran its procurement following a legal challenge from Fujitsu.

Last autumn, the most senior civil servant in the department told MPs scrutinising government spending that the programme to replace its communications system would also be 12 months late being delivered.

You can read more about our story here.

Today's evidence has pointed to delays and mistakes in the Post Office submitting evidence to the inquiry.

Here are some of the reasons why progress has been slow:

• Late last year, testimony from key witnesses had to be delayed after the Post Office discovered about 363,000 emails on an old mail system had not been used since 2012
• The late disclosure of documents by the Post Office has also caused delays. In one instance, 421 documents were delivered on a Friday evening leaving inquiry lawyers poring over the details to prepare for the following week's testimony
• At the time, in November 2023, Jason Beer KC, said it was "the latest in a series of disclosure failings by the Post Office"
• It's been revealed that just 2.82% of 402,000 documents have been shared with the inquiry
• Duplication of previously submitted documents has also been a problem, with Beer saying one document was submitted "50 times"
• Meanwhile, the inquiry is still waiting to hear from Gareth Jenkins, Fujitsu's former chief IT architect, who has had his appearance postponed twice. He has also requested immunity

Separately, it's been revealed that the Post Office threatened and lied to the BBC in a failed effort to suppress key evidence being exposed in a Panorama broadcast.

You can learn more about that by watching the Panorama programme here on iPlayer.

Jackson has been asked about the collection of information relevant to the inquiry from WhatsApp.

He says data hasn't been collected from people's phones, as questionnaires suggest that messages woudn't contain relevant information. He says people are using WhatsApp for "administrative" purposes, rather than for "substantive" discussions.

It's put to him by Jason Beer KC that there could have been a scenario where someone like former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells used WhatsApp to seek advice from colleagues about what to say or not to say in meetings.

Jackson says it's his understanding that "no, she wouldn't", and adds that WhatsApp would be for purposes such as arranging the time of a meeting.

Beer suggests it would come as a surprise to members of the public that "nobody in the Post Office used WhatsApp to discuss issues of substance related to Horizon".

That's it for today, with proceedings being adjourned for now as Beer's questioning of the Post Office lawyer has come to an end.

Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn Willams has thanked Chris Jackson "for your detailed written answers and the clarity of the answers you gave to Mr Beer".

Sir Williams says he won't make any "instant announcements" on anything heard today, as that is "fraught with danger". He went on to say he would take time to reflect on what he'd heard.

The inquiry will begin hearing evidence again on Tuesday 16 January at 10:00 - but stay tuned as we bring you the final questions put to Beer, and a summary of what we've heard.

The inquiry has returned once more to Chris Jackson's witness statement.

He outlines how, in June last year, the Post Office began to identify the full extent of its "electronic data universe".

Inquiry counsel Jason Beer KC asks why was this only started in June 2023?

"I don't know," Jackson replies.

"That’s a couple of years into the inquiry," says Beer.

Counsel goes on to question whether the issues the inquiry is now facing are in part caused by only beginning this exercise into collating all the relevant electronic data in 2023

Jackson says a "lot of work had been done".

There is also some discussion of two servers and 12 back-up tapes which are yet to be examined, though Jackson says they may not be relevant.

Beer asks how this might affect plans for Phases five and six of the inquiry, to which Jackson responds with three options for proceeding, including an adjournment for a material period.

Following the lunch break, there's been a lot of back-and-forth between Jason Beer KC and Chris Jackson, the lawyer acting for the Post Office, about duplicate documents.

Before the break, the inqury heard how 942 additional documents were submitted by Post Office lawyers on 5 January this year, just days before former Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw was due to give evidence.

It was later found that at least 420 of them were duplicates that had previously been provided.

Jason Beer KC questioned whether a greater number of them might also be duplicates, describing the mass of correspondence leading up to the inquiry as "chaotic".

Image source, Getty Images

As we wait to get more from the inquiry in London... in Scotland a date has been set for three Post Office sub-postmasters to appeal over the Horizon scandal.

At the Appeal Court in Edinburgh, full hearings were set for 1 February.

Rab Thomson, Ravinder Naga and Aleid Kloosterhuis all launched bids to quash their convictions, after being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding the Post Office. Some of the allegations date back nearly 20 years.

Mr Thomson's lawyer Wendy Culross told the court that he is "not interested in compensation" and just wants to clear his name.

Two other sub-postmasters - Colin Smith and Judith Smith - had their convictions "administratively" quashed on Monday.

Around 100 sub-postmasters in Scotland were convicted after they were wrongly accused of embezzling money.

First Minister Humza Yousaf has pledged to get "justice" for those involved.

Read more about how the Horizon Post Office scandal has affected Scotland here.

After an hour-long break for lunch, Chris Jackson's hearing at the Post Office inquiry has resumed.

Just before the break, counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said he only had 20 minutes worth of questioning left for the day.

He added that the core participants had no other questions for Jackson.

So, not long to go.

This morning saw the inquiry drill down into details around email archives and transferral, and issues around disclosure - with Chris Jackson, lawyer for the Post Office, giving evidence.

• Jackson said the Post Office wanted to help the inquiry reveal "the truth and facts" about the scandal
• He apologised for the delays in disclosing documents after the Post Office was accused of failing to produce evidence
• Jason Beer KC challenged Jackson on the Post Office's "flawed approach" to disclosure revealing just 2.82% 402,000 documents were shared with the inquiry
• Jackson also faced questions about a Freedom of Information request, made in May 2023, that revealed a "racist and archaic identity code document" used by fraud investigators to categorise suspects
• Later, Beer pointed to "inaccurate and misleading" information provided in a disclosure questionnaire by the Post Ofice, which Jackson said had subsequently been replicated in submissions to both the Court of Appeal and the inquiry

Speaking just before the break for lunch, the inquiry heard that, on 5 January, legal firm Herbert Smith Freehills, acting for the Post Office, contacted inquiry lawyers to say that additional checks regarding disclosure had uncovered 942 extra documents.

The revelation came just a few days before ex-Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw was due to give evidence.

Beer asked Jackson why 420 of these were duplicates which the inquiry already had in their possession - to which Jackson replied: "I don't know."

Beer also asked why the inquiry had been told by the Post Office that disclosure relating to Bradshaw was complete, then the week before he was due to give evidence more documents were uncovered.

Jackson again replied: "I don't know".

"Would you agree that's suboptimal?" asked Beer

"Yes," replied Jackson.

Image source, PA Media

Prior to breaking for lunch, Jason Beer KC focused on the disclosure of documents concerning former Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw - who gave evidence to the inquiry yesterday.

Bradshaw had originally been due to attend last November but, shortly before, his appearance was pulled on the basis of "new evidence".

Beer says a "significant proportion" of the material described as new is actually "internally duplicative" - meaning it has already been submitted to the inquiry.

On occasion, Beer says, he has received 10 copies of the same document, and cites one document that was submitted "50 times previously".

Still referring to Bradshaw, a letter from the inquiry, dated 14 December, is shown, with the heading 'Continued late disclosure by the Post Office'.

It says additional documents relating to Bradshaw had to be submitted by 20 December 2023, but on 27 December there was still unsubmitted material - despite the Post Office saying the disclosure was complete on 19 December.

Earlier this month, lawyers were asked once again for 21 outstanding documents relating to Bradshaw.

After what has been a morning filled with intensely technical and difficult details about emails and disclosure of information, the inquiry is now taking a break for lunch - resuming business in an hour.

Stay with us during the afternoon as we keep you up to date with all the latest.

Zoe Conway
Live reporter at the Post Office inquiry

Today’s hearing has been dominated by a discussion about the Post Office’s email systems.

This is because late last year, testimony from key witnesses had to be delayed because the Post Office discovered that about 363,000 emails found on an old mail system had not been disclosed to the inquiry.

The inquiry lawyers think the emails could really matter. That's because they say it covers a period when the Post Office was “reacting to the unfolding scandal”, which the lawyers say have been described by some as a “cover-up”.

What the inquiry is really trying to achieve today is clarity about what the Post Office is doing to stop these late disclosures from happening.

Image source, Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry

The inquiry lawyer now refers to an initial witness statement by Jackson and asks whether it's right to say that "inaccurate and misleading" information was provided in a disclosure questionnaire.

That questionnaire was initially provided to the High Court and later resubmitted to both the Court of Appeal and the inquiry - meaning the same inaccuracies have prevailed until this point.

The information had to do with email archive data and the transferral of emails.

Jackson says there was a replication of inaccuracies.

Beer is asking Chris Jackson, the lawyer acting for the Post Office, about a document that came to light during a Freedom of Information request made in May 2023.

Beer described it as a "chance discovery" that has led to questions over whether there is a separate repository of emails that aren't on Mimecast.

He said were it not for the FOI request "the racist and archaic identity code document would not have emerged."

This is a reference to how that document showed fraud investigators were asked to group suspects based on racial features.

In May 2023, the Post Office apologised for using racist terms to describe postmasters wrongly investigated as part of the Horizon IT scandal.

• You can read more about that apology in this BBC story.

Talk has turned to Mimecast - a company specialising in cloud-based email management - and whether there was a complete repository of Post Office emails between 2012 and 2016.

Inquiry lawyer Jason Beer KC refers to a letter sent in November 2023 from Post Office lawyers Burges Salmon about the migration of Post Office data from email gateway platform Proofpoint to Mimecast prior to January 2016.

That letter states that the Post Office has been unable to establish why the transfer of email data from one platform to the other was not complete - after some emails were found to exist in Microsoft Exchange but not in Mimecast.

The inquiry previously revealed the Post Office had identified more than 300,000 emails from after 2012 that had previously been missed.

Image source, Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry

We are now hearing about the issue of Post Office emails - what different systems were used and when - and the knock-on effect this has had in trying to extract information relevant and of use to the inquiry.

Beer asks Jackson if he would agree that when looking at the issue one would need to find out what email clients, servers and gateway platforms were operational at what time - and how information would be harvested from that.

Jackson agrees and says there have been attempts to find out what was held where and how to get to it.

Beer suggests that the collection of data should have started earlier than it did - at the outset of the inquiry - and notes the importance of chasing this was even flagged by the law firm in its tender process.

The inquiry has now resumed and proceedings are now focusing on Post Office emails.