Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of how best to provide (a) Post Office services (b) bank branch services for ageing population in North East Hampshire.

My Department conducted social value research into the most frequent users of Post Office services to inform the Green Paper on the Future of the Post Office, published last year. The research found that frequent users are more likely to be older, live in rural areas, or be less confident using digital technology.

In the Government’s response to the Green Paper, we committed to protecting access to services for these and other users by maintaining a minimum network of 11,500 Post Office branches and retaining all six geographical access criteria. This includes, for example, the requirement that 99% of the UK population live within three miles of a Post Office outlet. The Post Office network continues to meet and exceed these Government-set access criteria at a national level.

The Government is also committed to ensuring that those who need in-person banking services can continue to access essential services. To support this, the Government is commissioning an independent Review into Access to Banking Services. This Review will assess whether changes in the availability of in-person banking services are causing consumer detriment, the scale of any such detriment, and which groups are most affected, including older people.