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Politicians are maintaining the stress to dam authorities contracts being awarded to Fujitsu due to its position within the Submit Workplace Horizon scandal.
With musical chairs being performed in authorities departments because the UK will get its third prime minister in two months, campaigning MPs and Lords are conserving the difficulty within the highlight.
Labour MP Kate Osborne demanded that Dean Russell, just lately put in Parliamentary underneath secretary of state for enterprise, vitality and industrial technique, ought to pause and overview all authorities contracts with Fujitsu.
The Submit Workplace Horizon scandal noticed hundreds of subpostmasters blamed for accounting shortfalls that have been later proved to have been brought on by pc errors – however not earlier than lives had been ruined. Between 2000 and 2015, some 900 subpostmasters have been prosecuted for monetary crimes akin to theft and false accounting, primarily based on knowledge from the Fujitsu-supplied Horizon system. 1000’s extra have been ruined financially and had their lives turned the other way up.
Fujitsu has up to now escaped financial penalties, whereas the federal government has been compelled to set aside £1bn to cover the costs of compensating victims of the scandal. In the meantime, Fujitsu continues to win significant IT projects with the UK government.
The Japanese IT provider has been awarded IT companies contracts by the Residence Workplace, HM Income & Customs (HMRC) and the Overseas, Commonwealth & Improvement Workplace (FCDO). It should be paid £250m by HMRC to interchange an in-house service, whereas the FCDO has contracted it to offer networking and communications companies in a deal worth £184m, and the Residence Workplace is paying Fujitsu £48m to assist the know-how underpinning the Police Nationwide Database.
Osborne stated: “I thank the minister for the constructive assembly that I and others had with him final week concerning the Submit Workplace Horizon scandal, however he’ll know that nobody from the Submit Workplace, Fujitsu or the federal government has but to be held accountable.”
She added: “At that assembly, and final night time within the Home of Lords, it was raised that regardless of this scandal, the federal government are nonetheless awarding multimillion-pound contracts to Fujitsu. An apology from Fujitsu shouldn’t be sufficient. Will the secretary of state decide to pausing and reviewing all current authorities contracts with that appalling firm?”
Russell replied: “The Horizon scandal was terrible and I’ll gladly comply with up with additional conferences to debate the matter additional.”
On Monday 24 October within the Home of Lords, friends debated the award of a £48m contract to Fujitsu to improve the Police Nationwide Pc.
In the course of the debate, Conservative peer Stuart Polak stated that in relation to the Horizon system, “the phrases that come to my thoughts are: ‘scandalous’, ‘miscarriage of justice’, damaged lives’, ‘households financially ruined’ – and but Fujitsu has paid nothing”.
He added: “The speaking has gone on lengthy sufficient. I do know there are authorized instances, however mustn’t the federal government cease any contracts to Fujitsu? It’s simply morally fallacious.”
Fujitsu’s position within the scandal is currently being examined in a statutory public inquiry.
Again in 2009, Computer Weekly told the stories of seven subpostmasters affected by the issues (see timeline beneath of Pc Weekly articles on the scandal since first reporting on it in 2009).
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