Committee publication · Correspondence · 3 February 2026

Letter to the Post Office relating to the Committee evidence session on 6 January on Horizon scandal redress, 12 January 2026

From: Business and Trade Committee

Inquiry: Post Office Horizon scandal: Justice for sub-postmasters

Summary

The Business and Trade Committee chair writes to Post Office chairman Nigel Railton following his 6 January evidence session on the Horizon scandal, requesting specific information on data integrity checks with the Ministry of Justice, departmental information requests on convictions, staffing resources, and publication timeline for exception criteria guidance for the HSS closure deadline.

Key findings

  • Post Office committed to checking whether data supplied to MOJ meets required integrity standards; committee seeks initial findings
  • Committee enquiring about volume and processing time for Department of Business and Trade requests on Horizon-related convictions
  • Committee seeking clarity on staffing levels dedicated to handling government information requests
  • Post Office stated it is developing 'exception criteria' for entities unable to meet 31 January 2026 HSS closure deadline; committee requests publication timeline

Tone

Procedural

Topics

post-officehorizon-scandalcriminal-justiceredress

Key actors

Nigel Railton, Post Office, Business and Trade Committee, Department of Business and Trade, Ministry of Justice

Notable line

Please could you confirm when you will publish this guidance?

Key Quotes

In your evidence to the Committee, you stated that you would check whether the Post Office is supplying data to the MOJ at the right level of integrity. Please could you share your initial findings?
Business and Trade Committee Chair · requesting follow-up on Post Office's data integrity commitment
In your evidence to the Committee, you also stated that you are working with the Department of Business and Trade to develop "exception criteria" for those unable to meet the HSS closure deadline of 31 January 2026. Please could you confirm when you will publish this guidance?
Business and Trade Committee Chair · requesting timeline for publication of HSS closure exception criteria
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Source · parliament.uk record ↗