§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of Post Office Limited's(a) support for the vulnerable and (b) action to maintain post offices as focal points for communities during the Network Reinvention Programme for 2003 and 2004 to date. [165339]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Network Reinvention programme is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. There is a public consultation process agreed between the company and Postwatch and local communities are64W consulted before final decisions are taken. The needs of the elderly, the disabled and those on lower incomes are carefully considered. At the end of the programme, over 95 per cent. of the urban population nationally will still live within one mile of a post office and the majority within half a mile.
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of Post Office Network's ability to maintain convenient access for all to post offices, as indicated on page 5, chapter 1 of the Performance and Innovation Unit Report of 2000. [165340]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government regards it as most important that all communities have good access to postal and Government services and it is committed to doing all it can to ensure a viable Post Office network for the future. We have appointed a dynamic management team who are committed to turning the business around and to give effect to the vision in the PIU report of a thriving network meeting changing customer needs.
The Government has placed a formal obligation on Post Office Ltd to maintain the rural network and prevent avoidable closures, in the first instance until 2006, and has made available £450 million over three years to support this. For the urban network, where rationalisation is a vital element of renewal, Post Office Ltd is required to ensure that at the end of their reinvention programme over 95 per cent. of the urban population nationally will still live within one mile of a post office and the majority will live within half a mile.
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has held with(a) Postwatch and (b) Postcomm about the role of Postwatch. [165352]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Department has a regular dialogue with Postwatch and Postcomm on a range of issues concerning the postal market and the postal market regulatory framework. As a non-departmental public body, sponsored b DTI, the Department also has regular meetings with Postwatch about its programme, performance and operations. HMT and DTI are undertaking a joint project on consumer representation in regulated industries. As part of this project they have worked closely with Postwatch.
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from Postcomm about their work with key Post Office Network stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the role that post offices should play in the longer term. [165369]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) reports annually to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on developments in the post office network. Postcomm publishes these annual reports on its website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House. We have also received advice on the longer term role of post offices in rural areas. We are considering that report, which we would expect to be published in due course.
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§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of each annual report from Postcomm on the urban network since 2001; and if she will place copies of her assessments in the Library; [165370]
(2) what advice she has received from the Postal Services Commission regarding their monitoring of the size and shape of the Post Office network and its impact on local communities. [165368]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) reports annually to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on developments in the post office network. Postcomm publishes these annual reports on its website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State makes no formal assessment of the annual reports from the regulator but they are one of many sources which inform Government policy.
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about line management in Postwatch. [165371]
§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department has offered to Post Office Limited to ensure that benefit recipients can continue to access their entitlement in cash at post offices. [165439]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government has ensured that those people who want to do so can continue to collect their benefits in cash at the post office. The Government invested £450 million in the Horizon project, one of the UK's largest computerisation projects, which has automated every post office in the network. That IT platform has enabled the Post Office to provide its customers with access to a range of banking services at the post office counter. People can now collect their benefits in full in cash at post offices using bask bank accounts, some 20 million current accounts or the Post Office card accounts.