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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the Post Office's franchising plans on local communities.

Franchising plans for its directly managed Crown post offices is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited.

The Post Office’s aim in seeking franchise partners for some of its Crown branches is to ensure continued access to Post Office services for customers in local communities on a sustainable basis going forward. Over 97% of the network already operates through agency or franchise branches and the change from a Crown to a franchise branch has been undertaken previously in many locations across the UK and is a successful way of sustaining Post Office services in those areas.