Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure the retention of (a) rural post offices and (b) jobs in rural post offices.

Since 2010 the Government has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect a Post Office network of at least 11,500 branches that meets strict access criteria that ensure fair and reasonable access to Post Office services, including in rural communities. For example, the access criteria require 99% of the population nationally to live within three miles of a post office outlet. The Post Office is the only retailer in the UK that meets these criteria. Furthermore, the Government has been consistently clear that there will be no programme of branch closures, and under this Government the Post Office network is at its most stable for a generation.

The overwhelming majority of rural branches are owned and operated by private businesspeople known as subpostmasters who provide access to Post Office services under contractual arrangements. Subpostmasters are responsible for employing the staff required to deliver Post Office services.