§ Diana OrganTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-post offices closed in England and Wales in(a) 1998, (b) 1999, (c) 2000, (d) 2001, (e) 2002 and (f) 2003 to date. [134203]
353W
§ Mr. TimmsI am advised by Post Office Ltd. that details of net post office closures in the United Kingdom broken down by region/country are available only from March 2000 and were as follows:
Number England 2000–01 395 2001–02 204 2002–031 295 Wales 2000–01 68 2001–02 26 2002–032 18 1 Including 85 closures under the urban reinvention programme. 2 Including nine closures under the urban reinvention programme. Before March 2000, Post Office Ltd. maintained records of net closures on a nationwide basis only and were as follows:
Number 1997–98 243 1998–99 233 1999–2000 382 I understand that Post Office Ltd. produces information on post office closures on a quarterly basis. There were 248 net closures of post offices in England and 26 net closures in Wales to the end of June 2003, the latest quarter for which figures are currently available, of which 206 in England and 15 in Wales were under the urban reinvention programme.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government are taking to maintain sub-postmasters' incomes at and above the rate of inflation; and if she will list the average increase in sub-postmasters' incomes in each of the last five years. [134852]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 28 October 2003]: The income of sub-postmasters is derived firstly from payments made to them by Post Office Ltd. for carrying out work on its behalf, and secondly, from the sales made by any private retail business, which they run alongside the post office.
Payments from Post Office Ltd. are typically split into two parts: a fixed payment irrespective of volumes of work handled, and product payments which are directly driven by volume of work in their branch.
The income a sub-postmaster receives therefore will be dependent not simply on rate increases, but also on volumes of Post Office Ltd. work handled and by the turnover of any private business.
The future ability of Post Office Ltd. to improve the payments it makes to sub-postmasters is dependent on the success of its current plan to turnaround the financial fortunes of the company. The steps the Government are taking to support this process include investment of some £480 million in banking technology to expand the capability of Post Office Ltd. and £450 million funding to support the rural network until 2006.
354WI understand from the company that over the last five years, Post Office Ltd. has made awards to increase the rates at which the fixed payments are made as follows:
Percentage 1999–2000 12.1 2000–01 2.2 2001–02 2.3 2002–03 2.3 2003–04 3.0 1 Lump sum payment. In addition to this, there have also been a series of increases to individual product payment rates as well as the payment of various unconsolidated lump sums.