§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many urban post offices have been(a) proposed and (b) approved for closure since the inception of the network reinvention scheme in (i) West Chelmsford parliamentary constituency and (ii) mid-Essex. [137154]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 12 November 2003]: Proposals for post office closures and final decisions on them, following public consultation under the Code of Practice, are operational matters for Post Office Ltd. I am advised by Post Office Ltd that data on urban reinvention proposals and closures is not available in the form requested as the company does not require this data for operational reasons. However, I understand that since March 2000 the company has recorded details of post office closures, including those under the urban reinvention programme, which commenced in late 2002, on the basis of Government Region. In the East of England Region as a whole, there have been 43 closures under the urban reinvention programme to the end of September 2003, the latest quarter for which figures are currently available.