§ Mrs. LawrenceTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many main post offices in county towns have teen franchised by the Post Office(a) before and (b) since 1997. [185649]
§ Mr. TimmsThese are operational matters for Post Office Ltd. and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Peter DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry bow many post offices have closed in Dumfries and Galloway region since 1997. [186303]
§ Mr. TimmsI am advised by Post Office Ltd. that data on post office closures by constituency is not available in the form requested, as the company does not require this data for operational purposes. However it has produced quarterly statistics on post office closures by Government region/country since March 2000 and the net closure figures for Scotland are:
Number Year to end March 2001 63 Year to end March 2002 26 Year to end March 2003 20 Year to end March 2004 77