Speeches by Thomas.

“One of the other concerns that we have heard is that with earlier iterations of the Horizon shortfall scheme, some people experienced a very adversarial process. We have made clear to the Post Office that, as much as possible, we want claimants to be given the benefit of the doubt and want the offers made to be as gene…”

“I know from having met a series of victims of the scandal that many people have gone through considerable trauma because of the way they were treated by the Post Office. Many claimants speak to us about challenges with accessing the compensation process. We are trying as much as we can to simplify the process, to make …”

“We have been very clear that we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to get full and fair compensation, which is one of the reasons why—in part following the recommendation of this Committee in the last Parliament—we took the decision to introduce an appeals process to help claimants to have confidence th…”

“Absolutely.”

“We have certainly tried, as Mr Creswell set out, to encourage the Post Office to make it simpler. Four months in, I am very happy to listen to advice from the Committee and from the inquiry. We are having regular conversations with the claimants’ lawyers directly to understand if they have concerns about the forms. The…”

“I am not going to comment on individual employees, but I certainly hope that there is evidence of a substantial change in the way the Post Office operates going forward.”

“There has to be a process of change within the Post Office. We are in only the very early stages of that process of change. We will continue to have very direct conversations with the chair, chief executive and senior management team of the Post Office about what the transformation means for the day-to-day operations a…”

“This is one of the issues for the transformation plan. We have been absolutely clear with the new management that there must be a fundamental change in the culture of the Post Office going forward. They subscribe to that ambition. It must apply to all facets of the relationship with sub-postmasters, both for issues aro…”

“We have discussed this issue with the Post Office. My belief is that the vast majority of those people who were involved in the investigations have left the Post Office.”

“We will be happy to do that.”

“Certainly, up to now, we have had very good discussions with Mr Railton on his thinking about the future of the Post Office, and good conversations with his senior management team. I would expect those to continue.”

“There will have to be elements of it that we bid for to the comprehensive spending review. Some of the other aspects of the transformation plan, such as the consultative council with sub-postmasters, which is a potentially very significant step in terms of changing the culture of the Post Office and the way it treats s…”

“We are working through the costs of that transformation plan with the Post Office, in-house and ultimately with the Treasury.”

“As I made clear, we think that certainly, the appeals process we are setting up should not be run by the Post Office going forward. We are actively working with the Post Office to administer the fixed-sum payments, which we believe is certainly helping to speed up compensation getting out the door. We will work with th…”

“We have made it clear to the Post Office that it has to talk to sub-postmasters, stakeholders and the trade unions about the costs associated with directly managed branches. We are committed to the requirement to ensure there is easy access to a post office branch for every community, up and down the country. We want t…”

“I welcome my hon. Friend’s question. We need to take a number of steps in order to see mutualisation as a realistic way forward. In the first instance, there has to be a sustained change in Post Office culture about how sub-postmasters are treated. On that, the establishment of the postmaster panel and a consultative c…”

“As I have already made clear, no decisions have been taken to close any directly managed branch. There is a need to look at the costs that the Post Office incurs going forward, in order to make it fit for purpose over the next five to 10 years. As a result, we will need to look at the future of directly managed branche…”

“Each time I have met a sub-postmaster who was a victim of the Horizon scandal, I have been shocked by the way the Post Office treated them. I am sure other Members share that sentiment, having spoken to sub-postmasters in their constituencies who were also victims of the scandal. The Post Office’s culture must change f…”

“I underline that no decision has been taken on any or all the directly managed branches. However, these branches cost significantly more to run than those run by franchisees. We have made it clear to the Post Office that, as it reviews these costs, it must talk to sub-postmasters, trade unions and other stakeholders. T…”

“I welcome that the Committee’s first act is to look at redress for sub-postmasters who were victims of the Horizon scandal. I will happily appear next week to talk through where we are on compensation payments. My right hon. Friend is right to say that one of the bright spots in the Post Office’s future lies in banking…”