Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC accused Paula Vennells of adopting an "odd" approach before speaking to MPs.

In 2015, she told MPs on the the business select committee that she had seen no evidence of miscarriages of justice and that there were no faults in the Horizon system.

On Wednesday, the inquiry was told of an email Ms Vennells sent before the select committee hearing saying she needed to tell MPs "it is not possible" to access Horizon remotely. Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked why she needed to say remote access was not possible.

Ms Vennells responded:"I phrased this point very specifically and I can remember why I did this.

"Alice Perkins, not related to this particularly, but I can remember Alice Perkins saying to me at some stage, 'Paula if you want to get the truth and a really clear answer from somebody, you should tell them what it is you want to say very clearly and then ask for the information that backs that up', that was why I phrased this that way."

Mr Beer said:"That's an odd way of going about things, isn't it? 'I want to know the answer to the question, here's the answer to the question, tell me I'm wrong'."

Ms Vennells added: "Well yes, I hoped they would do....I believed this was absolutely the case, I had an obligation going before the select committee to be able to share the information that I knew and be able to answer their questions correctly and this is what I was trying to ask for from the team. I was not in any way, if you're suggesting this, trying to tell them what the answer should be."
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