Information Rights Team
Post Office Limited
Ground Floor
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London EC2Y 9AQ
Your reference:
Our reference: FOI2022/00770
John O'Sullivan
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
19 December 2022
Dear
Mr O'Sullivan,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI2022/00770
We are writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited (“
Post Office”)
on 20 November, in which you asked:
“This is a direct quote from yourselves answering a FOI request" According to
Post Office's current records, the number of postmasters convicted potential y
using evidence from the Horizon system (in some cases alongside other evidence)
is 476. This number includes cases in which Post Office acted as prosecutor and
also those in which prosecutions were brought by other agencies. The
prosecutions took place between 1999, when the original Horizon system was
introduced, and 2015 when Post Office prosecutions related to Horizon ceased,
rather than being limited to the time period 2000-2005"
What reassurances did POL seek from Fujitsu or others that Horizon data alone
would pass an evidentiality test and be of sufficient quality and integrity?
Why did POL stop prosecutions based solely on Horizon evidence and why did
POL not look again at the 476 cases it had conducted in this manner?”
Post Office considers that your email does not contain a request for recorded information.
Although your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific
documents, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”) does not oblige an authority to
answer a question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or
judgment that is not already recorded, which applies to the question you have raised.
We would once again like to refer you to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
guidance on how to access information from a public authority, which can be found at the
following link:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
Public
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/governance/access-to-information/access-to-information/ Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy, information about how
we do this can be found on our website at www.postoffice.co.uk/privacy.
