Written question asked by Nick Palmer (Labour) on Thursday, 25 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 1 March 2010. It was answered by Pat McFadden (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Post Office

Question: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the suitability of Post Office Ltd as a bidder for the contract set out in tender notice 2009/S 247-354963.

Answer: The Government are keen for the Post Office to expand its Government services work. One of the major new opportunities in this area is for post offices to act as centres for the capture of biometric data for passports, driving licences, and potentially ID cards. This issue has been actively considered within Government and the Post Office is expected to bid to be a service provider. The Post Office agreed a deal last year with the DVLA to provide a "one-stop" biometric data capture facility at 750 branches around the country and is therefore well placed to provide similar services.

Secondary information