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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of outreach post office services as a substitute for traditional post offices in (a) the Tatton constituency and (b) rural constituencies more widely.

The Government is committed to safeguarding the Post Office network and protecting existing rural services as we recognise the important role post offices play in serving their communities. The Government promotes access to rural post offices by setting accessibility criteria which the Post Office must meet. This ensures that in rural areas over 95% of people are within 3 miles of their nearest post office service. In remote and rural areas where it is difficult to deliver services to consumers via a permanent site, Post Office Limited use outreach services, such as a mobile van, or a village hall. These offer the same products and services as bricks-and-mortar branches. Within the Tatton constituency, there is one outreach service in Chelford.