Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many post offices there were in(a) Carmarthenshire, (b) Dyfed and (c) Wales in each year since 1979. [13090]
§ Mr. PageI understand from the Post Office that, due to boundary changes in Wales and changes to administrative boundaries at Post Office Counters Ltd., data on the number of post offices in Carmarthenshire and Dyfed in each year since 1979 could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
The table given shows the number of post offices in Wales for each year from 1987 to 1993. Equivalent data for 1994 to 1996 are not available due to Post Office Counters' administrative boundary changes following a major reorganisation of its business structure. Post Office Counters' best estimate of the current total number of post offices in Wales is 1,700.
560W
Year Number of post offices in Wales 1987 2,134 1988 2,138 1989 2,104 1990 2,087 1991 2,057 1992 2,004 1993 1,986
§ Dr HowellsTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the number of sub-agency Crown status and franchised post offices in(a) each English region, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in each year since 1979; how many of each category of post office in each case were opened or closed since 1979; and how many have changed their status since 1979. [11001]
§ Mr. Page[holding answer 16 January 1997]: I understand from the Post Office that, due to reorganisation and changes in administrative regional boundaries at Post Office Counters Ltd., records are no longer available to provide the information for the full period requested. The information which Post Office Counters Ltd. have available is set out in tables, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House. Tables 1 to 10 show a breakdown of the national network of post offices as at the end of March for each year since 1987 between directly operated main post offices—Crown offices—other main post offices, which include franchise offices, and sub-post offices. The geographical apportionment of these figures is Post Office Counters' best estimate. Table 11 shows the net change in the number of offices in each of the three categories during the 1995–96 financial year. Comparable figures for earlier years are not available.