HC Deb 05 December 1994 vol 251 cc4-5
3. Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether benefits will continue to be delivered through post offices.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security (Mr. James Arbuthnot)

Yes, customers will continue to be able to choose to receive their pension or other benefits at the post office. We have three clear objectives for the delivery of benefits: to give our customers the choice of where they receive their benefit, to reduce the cost of delivering that service and to eliminate fraud.

Mr. Hawkins

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Will he confirm that his Department has given a firm commitment that it will need a nationwide network of post offices? Will he also confirm that that commitment has been widely welcomed by sub-postmasters, one of whose national officers is in my constituency?

Mr. Arbuthnot

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I confirm that that is the Government's policy. In May, Mr. Colin Baker, General Secretary of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, said: "The promise of automation"—by the Governmentߞ on this scale indicates to us that our future … is more secure and that our contribution is valued. He was right—it is.

Mr. Foulkes

Will the Minister confirm whether the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) receives his invalidity benefit through a post office? Does he agree that, if the hon. and learned Gentleman is entitled to it, he deserves to get it, but that his comments on other claimants who also deserve their benefit reek of prejudice and hypocrisy?

Mr. Arbuthnot

I am interested in the hon. Gentleman's question. As he well knows, it is not the Government's practice to comment on individual cases. He seems to suggest that he favours means-testing the disability living allowance. If so, it is a pretty peculiar suggestion.