HC Deb 27 February 2004 vol 418 cc612-3W
Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she plans to provide hon. and right hon. Members with a rationale for the proposed area plan in those areas that(a) are involved in and (b) have undergone post office closure programmes. [156485]

Mr. Timms

[holding answer 26 February 2004]: No, these are operational matters for Post Office Limited. The changes to the consultation arrangements announced in my Written Statement of 5 February were not retrospective in effect.

Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether information from local authorities on infrastructure and regeneration projects already made available to Post Office Limited will be taken into account when determining closure proposals on post offices where no final decision has yet been reached. [156486]

Mr. Timms

[holding answer 26 February 2004]: Yes. The changes to the consultation arrangements announced in my Written Statement of 5 February took immediate effect.

Mr. Evans

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) rural and (b) urban post offices have closed in Lancashire since 1997, broken down by constituency. [156500]

Mr. Timms

I am advised by Post Office Ltd. that data on post office closures is not available in the form requested as the company does not require this data for its operational purposes.

Before March 2000, Post Office Ltd. maintained records of net closures on a nationwide basis only and these were as follows:

  • 1997–98: 243
  • 1998–99: 233
  • 1999–2000: 382

Post Office Ltd. has recorded details of the total number of post office closures in the United Kingdom, by Government region and urban/rural classification from March 2000.

Region: North West
Year Urban Rural
2000–01 11 28
2001–02 9 +4
2002–03 25 12

Post Office Ltd. produces information on post office closures on a quarterly basis. There were 88 net urban post office closures and 11 net rural closures in the North West region in the nine months to the end of December 2003, the latest quarter for which figures are currently available.

Since the commencement of the urban reinvention programme in October 2002, there have been a total of 92 urban closures under the programme in the North West region.