Written question asked by Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 12 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, how much funding under the Urban Investment Programme for post offices remains to be spent; and what timetable has been established to draw down the balance in respect of improvement investment grants to Post Office Ltd. - Including figures.

Answer: Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding under the Urban Investment Programme for post offices remains to be spent; and what timetable has been established to draw down the balance in respect of improvement investment grants to Post Office Ltd. [198892] Mr. Sutcliffe: Operation of the urban reinvention programme, including consideration of applications from subpostmasters for investment grant funding, is a matter for Post Office Ltd. The Department has not imposed a timetable for the use of this funding. It was always anticipated that there would be some time lag between closure decisions being announced and take up of investment grant funding. Post Office Ltd is now beginning to see take up of this increase and expects further increases as the restructuring of the network continues and subpostmasters become more confident about their future prospects. Post Office Ltd has devoted additional resources to establish a separate team dedicated to promoting and supervising the implementation of investment required to upgrade remaining offices and fully expects to utilise the £30 million available. To date, the DTI has paid £5,448,897 to Post Office Ltd under the urban reinvention programme for investment grant funding.

Secondary information