§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the progress made on the roll-out of "Your Guide" to sub-post offices. [28679]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 18 January 2002]: My Department has provided £25 million funding for the pilot of "Your Guide" currently operating in Leicestershire and Rutland. The pilot was fully up and running by the end of August last year and will finish on 1 March this year. The results of the pilot will be fully evaluated and decisions on national roll-out will be based on the findings of the evaluation and on further work on funding and service design. Among other things the evaluation and associated work will establish the costs of implementing a "Your Guide" scheme nationally and will compare these with the benefits. Work on evaluating the pilot has already begun and a full evaluation should be completed by the end of June. Work on funding and the design of a national service will be progressed as far as possible in parallel with evaluation of the pilot so that firm decisions on a national scheme can be taken next autumn.