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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment has been made of the case for Post Office Ltd. developing a role for post offices as government general practitioners and of Government support for this as mentioned in the Performance and Innovation Unit Report of 2000, Chapter 8, page 16, conclusion 18; [166779] (2) what assessment has been made of the case for Post Office Ltd. developing a role for the Post Office Network as internet and learning and access points as mentioned in the Performance and Innovation Unit Report of 2000, Chapter 8, page 16, conclusion 17. [166827] Mr. Timms: In line with the Performance and Innovation Unit's recommendations, the Government contributed £25 million to the `Your Guide' pilot to test the concept of the role for post offices as `Government General Practitioner' and as internet learning and access points. It was made clear from the outset that the decision on whether or not to roll out a national service would depend on the results of the pilot. The Your Guide pilot showed that a publicly funded national scheme would not represent value for money and we concluded that it should not be rolled out. However, Your Guide highlighted a number of areas in which Government Departments might deliver services through post offices in the future particularly if they could be linked with or channelled through a commercially-based kiosk network. The evaluation report of the Your Guide pilot was published on 23 July 2002 and a copy placed in the Libraries of the House.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

420 c534-5W; 166779;166827

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Post offices Postal services

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk