Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in the Post Office network on its ability to meet its obligation to provide a universal postal service.

This Government has committed to there being no programme of Post Office closures. Furthermore since October 2014, and the launch of Post Office’s home shopping returns pilot which has seen approximately 150 new postal access points open across the UK, the network is now growing for the first time in more than 50 years.

Royal Mail and the Post Office are separate independent businesses and it is Royal Mail, not the Post Office, which is the company that has been designated as the UK’s universal postal service provider.

The Post Office acts as an agent of Royal Mail, providing access to its mail products and services through its national network under commercial contract. The Post Office provides access to a wide range of other services including Government, financial and telephony.

The Government understands the important role that post offices play in communities across the country and since 2010 has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect a network of at least 11,500 branches that continues to meet strict access criteria that see, for example, 95% of the urban population living within one mile of a post office outlet.