Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will take steps to increase the number of main post offices; and what plans his Department has to undertake a consultation of post office service provision.

The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.

While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The number of main post offices, and their locations, are operational matters for the Post Office.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy conducted a consultation from 8 November to 21 December 2016 to understand what the British public wanted from their Post Office. The Government sought responses on the access criteria and the availability of services across the network. The consultation shaped Government decisions to leave access criteria unchanged, and work with the Post Office to extend availability of services to families and small businesses in rural areas. The response received from the Consultation played a central role in informing the Government’s commitment to £370 million of new funding for the Post Office to safeguard the network and invest in its future.

The Post Office Network Consultation and the Government’s response is available at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/post-office-network