§ 24. Mr. BarnesTo ask the President of the Board of Trade when he next plans to meet the chairman of the Post Office to discuss the Green Paper on its future.
§ Mr. HeseltineI meet the chairman of the Post Office regularly, but no date has been set for our next meeting.
§ 25. Mr. TimmsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the impact of the cut in the post office users council budget on its service to Post Office business users and others.
§ 38. Ms Janet AndersonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what evaluation his Department has made of the impact of the cut in the post office users council budget on its service to post office domestic customers and others.
§ Mr. McLoughlinI am confident the Post Office Users National Council will continue to fulfil its statutory functions to its users.
§ 28. Ms CorstonTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what would be the cost of running Post Office Counters as a separate business.
§ Mr. HeseltineI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall) earlier today.
§ 37. Mr. WelshTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent representations he has received on the future of rural post offices and sub-post offices; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HeseltineI have received a number of representations from individuals, companies and consumer organisations on the future of the Post Office. Some of these include views on rural post offices and sub-post offices.
327W
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will place in the Library the schedule of variable payments to sub-post offices and other post offices according to the volume of Department of Social Security transactions, together with the total number of transactions within each volume payment band;
(2) if he will place in the Library a memorandum explaining the internal cross-subsidy system from large-volume to small-volume post office outlets within Post Office Counters Ltd.; and what changes have been made in that system in the last three years.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThis information is commercially confidential.
§ Mr. HainTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if, as part of his consultation on the Post Office Green Paper, he will place in the Library the 1991 strategic review of Royal Mail delivery and other services.
§ Mr. McLoughlinNo.
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what contribution was made to(a) external financing limit targets and (b) overall profits by each Post Office subsidiary over the last three years with an estimate for the current year.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe external financing limit is a target which is set for the Post Office Group as a whole. The businesses are not given EFL contribution targets and, therefore, information is not collected or available on this basis.
The profits of the main Post Office businesses over the last three years are as follows:
£ million 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 Royal Mail 266 252 296 Parcelforce (24) (13) (19) Post Office Counters Ltd. 26 25 25 Subscription Services Ltd. 7 8 6 It is not the Post Office board's policy to publish profit forecasts. The Post Office Group has been set a negative EFL for 1994–5 by the Government of £226 million.