Dear Post Office Limited,

In the spirit if Xmas I would first like to thank you for your work during the year in answering my own and other's requests. I think it is clear that you are merely spokespersons for the individuals in Post Office Ltd that ultimately provide the responses for you to deliver.

However, that does not entirely exclude you from your duties as a public officer to ensure that the replies you deliver to honest citizens under the Freedom of Information Act are not only true but do not attempt to deny access to information that should be freely available to the public.

I would refer you to the following publications:

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/misco...

'A public office holder is an officer who discharges any duty in the discharge of which the public are interested, more clearly so if he is paid out of a fund provided by the public.'

In light of the current police investigation into the Post Office Prosecution team I think it fair to imply that the police already consider Post Office employees to be Public Officers for the purposes of the Act.

http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uplo...

And from an appendice to the above document which highlights just what a serious crime Misconduct in Public Office is:
http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uplo...

You might note from the spreadsheet the offence committed by a Mr Patel : Allegedly called in sick when there was a clash with his second career, conducting. He got 9 months in prison!

I am not suggesting at all you have committed any offence but as the JFSA saga unfolds you should surely realise that serious questions will be asked about the behaviour of all concerned. It strikes me that failure to publish the contents of the Known Error Log for instance will require a very detailed explanation by those involved in denying the public and SPMRs access to it. It may well be in your own personal interests to ensure that the person who ultimately sanctions the reply you provide me in due course is aware of your concerns and perhaps offers you some form of indemnity although I am not sure if that would apply.

Have a great Xmas but I am not sure it will be a particularly good year for Post Office Ltd.

My requests:

a) I will ask again - could you please provide me with the contents of the Known Errors Log as of January 2016.

b) Please provide me with a list of people in POL (job titles will suffice) who are provided with a copy of the known errors log.

c) please provide me with the list of known errors in Horizon that is provided to Branch Auditors before they are asked to perform a branch audit.

d) please provide me with a list of known errors in Horizon that is provided to Subpostmasters and Operators in order that they can check to see if they have occurred at their branch.

Kind regards

Tim McCormack

Dear FOIA,

Thank you for your rather strange reply. I say strange because my request is similar if not the same as several others on this web site, seeking the contents of the Known Errors Log.

For some reason you have added to your response by inserting the following:

Legal Professional Privilege

I have considered the reasons for which this type of information would be prepared.
The legal professional privilege exemption at s42 of the Act states that information in
respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege of communications could be
maintained in legal proceedings is exempt information. In applying that exemption to
the information sought, the information has been commissioned for the dominant
purpose of legal advice between Post Office’s legal advisers and other third parties
and therefore squarely satisfies the test at s42 of the Act. Post Office maintains its
right to assert that legal professional privilege would apply in respect of the
information.

Could you please clarify this in language that a lay person like myself and the Information Commissioner might understand?

Yours sincerely,

Tim McCormack

Dear Post Office Limited,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Post Office Limited's handling of my FOI request 'In the spirit of Xmas'.

Answer the supplementary question

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Yours faithfully,

Tim McCormack