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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has been made of the sustainability of the Post Office network.

The purpose of the current investment programme is to make the network more sustainable, to reduce the funding burden on the taxpayer.

Due to the investment since 2010, the number of branches in the network have been the most stable for decades, with the Post Office reporting the number of branches in the network at end March 2016 at 11,643, an increase over the previous year. Additionally the financial performance of the business has improved significantly, with losses being reduced by approximately £100m since 2012.