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Business of the House

I do not know whether I am supposed to welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new responsibilities. Perhaps his hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) is out in the country campaigning for the write-in vote that I thought should be required of such an outstanding candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Democrat party, but we are all sorry that he is not here to receive our continuing support in his efforts to lead the Liberal Democrats. The Government have always made it clear that the Post Office card account was an interim arrangement. I hope that all right hon. and hon. Members will accept that it is an arrangement whereby those who want to continue rightly to use their local post office to receive a range of benefits can do so. Between now and the end of the arrangement in 2010, it would clearly be possible—pilot schemes are already under way—to allow people, having learned from the experience of using a Post Office card account, to use many of the similar accounts made available by the Post Office. They operate on exactly the same basis as the Post Office card account and will enable them to continue to receive benefits that way. That seems a wholly sensible and straightforward arrangement, and it will allow post offices to continue to receive the same level and quality of business as they enjoy under the present arrangements.