§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the numbers of customers for the Universal Bank in(a) 2003, (b) 2004, (c) 2005, (d) 2006 and (e) 2007.[70846]
§ Stephen Timms[holding answer 18 July 2002]: The Government has an operating assumption of 3 million card accounts at the Post Office but there will be no cap and no eligibility criteria. Numbers could therefore vary according to customer demand and the systems are being designed to cope with a range of customer numbers.