Government Ducks Its Responsibility for Post Offices and Post Office Closures - Brake

10.26.25am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 20th Nov 2007

Tom Brake MP with local postmaster

Tom Brake MP, today expressed grave concerns that the Government are not accepting any responsibility for the impact on local communities of Post Offices closures in London.

Tom recently asked the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment they had made of the effects proposed closures would have on local communities in London.

Responding, Pat McFadden the Minister of State for Postal Affairs, expressed no views on the impact closures would have on vulnerable groups or those who might have mobility problems such as people with disabilities or senior citizens. He simply said that it was "not possible" to say which offices would close until Post Office Ltd had drawn up implementation plans.

The Department did say that Post Office Ltd needed to take into account access criteria and local geography, as well as the impact on local communities but the Minister gave no assurances that the Government would guarantee people had easy access to post offices within their local area or that they would not suffer long-waiting times at any remaining post offices.

Commenting, Tom Brake MP said, "It is simply not good enough for the Government to ignore the hardship Post Office closures will cause. Nobody will buy their claim that 'it's nothing to do with us'. They will be held responsible for the damage closures will cause to local communities services".

Notes

The text of the Parliamentary Answer follows.

13th November 2007

Post Offices: Closures

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the effects of proposed post office closures on the local communities in London where post offices have been proposed for closure; and if he will make a statement. [162551]

Mr. McFadden: It is not possible to say which offices will close until Post Office Ltd has drawn up implementation plans and local consultations have taken place. However when developing detailed area plans with input from Postwatch, local authorities and sub-postmasters, Post Office Ltd will take into account the need to meet the national access criteria as well as local geography and factors such as availability of public transport, alternative access to key post office services, local demographics and the impact on local communities.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the annual savings are that are anticipated to accrue to the Post Office from those post offices so far proposed for closure, broken down by (a) each post office area and (b) each proposed closure. [163839]

Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.