§ Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will instruct Post Office Ltd. to publish a profile of the select teams of personnel involved in walking between each sub-post office that was proposed for closure in the west Derbyshire area plan and the named alternative branch, indicating how many of the personnel were (a) wheelchair users, (b) physically disabled, (c) aged between 65 to 75 years, (d) aged between 75 to 85 years, (e) aged over 90 years and (f) wheeling pushchairs and accompanied by young children. [163744]
§ Mr. Timms: No. Post Office Ltd. personnel involved in drawing up closure proposals under the urban reinvention programme undertake a detailed on the ground study assessment of the accessibility of the alternative offices identified as the main receiving branches and their facilities for the disabled. This 1112W assessment includes the nature of the terrain between the branches, the distance of the journey on foot, including how busy the roads are, where there are pedestrian crossings, traffic lights or underpasses where these need to be crossed. Access by public transport, predominantly by bus, is also checked giving route numbers and distance of stops from the closing and receiving branches. Availability of parking is also checked. All five offices in West Derbyshire proposed for closure have an alternative office within 0.5–1 mile accessible by bus.
§ Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of (a) businesses and (b) addresses in each postcode district (i) received postal deliveries before 9 a.m. Mondays to Fridays in (A) 1997 and (B) 2003 and (ii) are expected to receive such deliveries in 2005. [162494]
§ Mr. Timms: Conditions on the delivery of mail are a licensing matter for the regulator, Postcomm. The Postal Services Act 2000, and the License granted by Postcomm under it, requires Royal Mail to make one daily delivery to every household in the United Kingdom. It does not specify the time at which this has to be made, and consequently data on delivery percentages at particular times of the day are not available. Postcomm understands from Royal Mail that the reasons for the change to a single delivery were to improve efficiency and to maintain quality of service. Royal Mail believes that addresses on rural and dedicated business delivery routes are in any case highly unlikely to be affected by the move to a single daily delivery.