HC Deb 18 April 2000 vol 348 cc431-2W
Mrs. Fiona Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has defined what is a reasonable distance when determining access to a post office. [119757]

Mr. Alan Johnson

Decisions on access criteria will be made in the light of the Performance and Innovation Unit's report on the post office network and subsequent consultations with interested parties.

Mr. Worthington

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what agreement he has with the Post Office about the(a) number and (b) percentage of existing Crown post offices that should be maintained. [119002]

Mr. Alan Johnson

As set out in the White Paper "Post Office Reform: A World Class Service for the 21" Century", the Government agreed a strategy, reflecting proposals put by the Post Office to the trade unions, of retaining a core of directly owned and managed Crown offices. For the foreseeable future, the Post Office intends that at least 15 per cent. of the total business transacted by the counters' network is done at Crown offices.

Mr. Worthington

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if changes have taken place since May 1997 in the restrictions on the activities of Crown post offices. [119003]

Mr. Alan Johnson

No.

Mr. Truswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he will promote to maximise the income of sub-postmasters from(a) benefit transactions and (b) other transactions following the introduction of automated credit transfers in post offices. [119205]

Mr. Alan Johnson

The Government have given a commitment that all benefit recipients who wish to access their benefits in cash at post offices will continue to be able to do so, both before and after the migration of benefit payments to automated credit transfer from 2003. By equipping the whole of the post office network with Horizon, a modern, automated IT platform towards the capital costs of which the Government are contributing £480 million, from spring 2001 the Post office will be able to improve its services to existing clients and take advantage of new business opportunities. In particular, Horizon offers the potential to move into automated network banking on an agency basis and to use the post office network as a delivery channel for electronic Government services.