Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 implementation: statutory report

1. Introduction

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Government in May 2024^[1], in response to the widespread miscarriages of justice arising from the prosecution of a large number of sub-postmasters, their employees, and family members, across the United Kingdom, based on the tainted evidence provided by the Post Office in criminal cases. This tainted evidence was obtained from the faulty Horizon IT system, resulting in the conviction of individuals, with a horrendous and long-lasting impact on their lives.

The Bill was introduced to ensure that individuals wrongfully convicted due to the Horizon IT scandal would have their convictions quashed without any action on their part, which would allow for the ability to access the UK Government redress they are rightfully entitled to. Passed by the Scottish Parliament in June 2024, this represented a landmark step to restore justice for those affected.

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”)^[2] quashed the criminal convictions within its scope on 14 June 2024, which is the day that the Act came into force, after receiving Royal Assent on 13 June 2024.

The Act sets out the conditions that must be met for a conviction to have been quashed, and placed a statutory duty on Scottish Ministers to take all reasonable steps to identify and notify convictions quashed by the operation of the Act.

The Act makes the following provisions:

1) Section 1 of the Act quashes a conviction in Scotland for a "relevant offence" which took place before the coming into force of the Act.

2) Section 2 of the Act defines what is meant by a "relevant offence". It sets out five conditions that must be met for the conviction to be quashed by the Act. Further detail on the specifics of these conditions is provided in the “Scottish Government’s Powers under the 2024 Act” chapter.

3) Section 3 of the Act explains the process for identifying those convictions quashed by the Act, amending the records of those convictions, and notifying relevant individuals. The convicting court must update records of a relevant conviction to record that the conviction was quashed by this Act.

4) Section 4 of the Act sets out a process for Scottish Ministers to direct the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland to delete details contained in the criminal history database for certain alternatives to prosecution given to a person for a relevant offence before the coming into force of the Act, where it appears to them that an alternative to prosecution was given. These alternatives to prosecution are police or procurator fiscal warning; an accepted or deemed accepted conditional offer or compensation offer; a work order; or an offer made by the procurator fiscal to undertake an activity or treatment, to receive services or do any other thing as an alternative to prosecution.

Section 4 also provides that the Scottish Ministers must take all reasonable steps to notify the person, or if no longer alive, their personal representative of such a deletion and if not practicable to do so to take all reasonable steps to identify and notify some other appropriate person.

4) Section 5 of the Act provides that the Scottish Ministers may, by notice in writing, require a person to provide information which they hold and which the Scottish Ministers consider necessary for the carrying out of their functions under the Act.

5) Section 6 of the Act imposes a reporting requirement upon the Scottish Ministers.

6) Sections 7-10 of the Act contain a number of standard provisions, including interpretation of terms used in the Act and commencement of the Act.

The Act applies to Scotland only. The UK Parliament passed a separate Act for those convicted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024^[3].

This report is required under section 6 of the Act and includes information on:

1) The number of convictions that the Scottish Government has identified as having been quashed by the Act where:

a) notification of this information has taken place to the convicting court; and

b) notification of this information has taken place to the person who was convicted, or the person’s personal representatives if no longer alive, or any other person identified in circumstances where the Scottish Government considered it appropriate to notify.

2) The steps taken by the Scottish Government to:

a) identify convictions quashed by the Act; and

b) give notifications to the person who was convicted, or the person’s personal representatives if no longer alive, or any other person identified who the Scottish Government considered it appropriate to notify.

The report outlines the essential joint working between the Scottish Government, justice agencies and other relevant bodies required to fulfil the duties set out in the Act. It also details the collaborative working with the UK Government aimed at ensuring, as far as possible, that individuals whose convictions have been identified as quashed are able to access the compensation provided through UK Government.