Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)

My Lords, like others across the House, I welcome Wyn Williams’s first report into this IT scandal, and it is an IT scandal. It is clear from looking at the Green Paper that there are huge historical failings across the Post Office’s management and board—serious cultural failings. How do His Majesty’s Government see this Green Paper redressing those failings and setting up new structures for the future of the Post Office so that no sub-postmasters or sub-postmistresses are ever left to face these appalling situations again? Every speaker in this debate has touched on the financial compensation, and I add my weight to that. The Statement made in the other place on 14 July said that £500 million of taxpayers’ money will be committed to bringing in and supporting a new IT system. That is before we even touch on the compensation packages. The Minister said that Fujitsu has a moral obligation. I think Fujitsu has far more than a moral obligation when we look at the situation that far too many of those sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were put into. They were ostracised within their communities, some took their own lives, and they were treated to years of not being believed and a legal system that believed a computer over their word in far too many cases. Fujitsu is on the hook for more than a moral obligation. It has a financial obligation to deal with both the redress and the implementation of a new and fairer IT system.