John O'Sullivan
Date
4 August 2023
request-997020-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Post Office
100 Wood Street,
London, EC2V 7ER
Classification:
Public
Dear John O'Sullivan,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI2023/00384
We are writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited (“
Post
Office”) on 30 June, which has been dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (“
FOIA”).
In your email you have requested the information shown in bold below:
“
Please can you provide meaning, context or proof of what Nick Read told
this Committee on June 20th.1)I have a network of 50,000 colleagues ?2)In
total, pay did rise for postmasters year on year?,3)We have over 11,680
branches operating,.Why has On the High Street has been dropped from
this statement.4)As I said before, we have no cap. There is no limit to the
amount of personal loss that people can claim for.. There is no cap, not
only on what people can earn from particular personal loss, but also no
limit to the type of personal loss that people can have.5)We have been
doing a specific piece of work to identify whether there are any potential
appellants or potential individuals who have been prosecuted. We can
already say to them, “Come forward. We will not oppose you”.”
Post Office has refused your request for information because it falls within section
14(1) of the FOIA. Under section 14(1), Post Office is not obliged to comply with a
request for information if the request is vexatious.
Page 1 of 3
postoffice.co.uk
Post Office Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540.
Registered Office 100 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7ER
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Limited.
This exemption applies because Post Office considers that this request does not
have a serious value or purpose, in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s
guidance in dealing with vexatious requests, which can be found at the following
webpage:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi-eir-and-access-to-information/freedom-of-
information-and-environmental-information-regulations/dealing-with-vexatious-
requests-section-14/ It is not possible under the FOIA to provide the “meaning, context or proof” to
discussions had at Select Committee meetings and it is not a good use of either Post
Office employee resource or the FOIA itself.
To provide further context, between 1 January 2023 and 1 July 2023, you submitted
48 FOI requests and Internal Reviews in total. These figures do not include your
recent requests which are not asking for recorded information under FOIA and to
which we have passed on to the appropriate business area to answer. The burden
that these requests are placing on Post Office is unreasonable and is taking resource
away from our essential work supporting Postmasters deal with the most difficult
trading environment in several years.
There is an abundance of information relating to Post Office that is already publicly
available and to which you can access, including the following pages:
Post Office corporate website:
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/
The Annual Reports and Accounts webpage:
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/governance/key-reports-statements/post-
office-annual-report-accounts-2021-22/
The latest data on compensation progress and redress:
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/horizon-scandal-pages/latest-data-on-
compensation-progress-and-redress/
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postoffice.co.uk
Classification: Public
Overturned Convictions and Compensation data:
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/horizon-scandal-pages/overturned-convictions-
and-compensation-information-on-progress/
We are therefore not obliged to consider your request further and, in accordance
with section 17(6) FOIA, will not respond to further requests of a similar nature or
on the same topic.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of this response, you do have a right to
request an internal review. You can do this by writing to the address above within
40 working days of receipt of this response stating your reasons for your internal
review request or alternatively, by emailing
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx. If, having requested an internal review by Post Office, you are still not satisfied with
our response you also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
https://ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
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
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postoffice.co.uk
Classification: Public
