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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 29 November 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Peter Luff. The answering member was Pat McFadden.

Post Office Restructuring

Westminster Hall debate on a motion for the adjournment on restructuring the post office network. (Relevant documents: Trade and Industry Committee third report of session 2006-07 (HC 276), eighth report of session 2006-07 (HC 593) and Government response (HC 1083)).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
468 c135-86WH 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Russell Brown | 468 c150WH (Link to this contribution) On that point, the more business that disappears from Post Office Counters, the greater the potentia...
David Kidney | 468 c149-50WH (Link to this contribution) We all find it regrettable that there are millions fewer customers and millions of pounds of losses ...
Show all contributions (115)
Peter Luff | 468 c149WH (Link to this contribution) I read that paragraph last night when I was preparing for the debate, and it is open to misinterpret...
David Kidney | 468 c149WH (Link to this contribution) I was not a member of the Select Committee, but I see that it has recognised and accepted the change...
Mike Weir | 468 c147-9WH (Link to this contribution) It is worrying, because it sets communities against one another in the plan, which is dangerous. As...
Jo Swinson | 468 c151WH (Link to this contribution) I wanted to ask the hon. Gentleman whether his experience of the lack of consultation over the WH Sm...
David Kidney | 468 c150-1WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, that is the unpalatable fact that we face. Let us all support the new management of Post Office...
Sandra Gidley | 468 c154WH (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman mentioned outreach. Does he share my concern that the branch access reports...
Lord Young of Cookham | 468 c154-5WH (Link to this contribution) I take the hon. Lady's point, which brings me to St. Mary Bourne, a resourceful village that raised ...
David Kidney | 468 c151-3WH (Link to this contribution) No, I do not impugn the management's intentions; I believe that it was sincere in its consultations....
Lord Young of Cookham | 468 c153WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney), who made some perfectly valid ...
Alan Reid | 468 c156WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. If the only post office is in a supermarket, it is taking mon...
Jo Swinson | 468 c156WH (Link to this contribution) On nonsensical urban post office closures, may I draw my hon. Friend's attention to Kelvindale post ...
Alan Reid | 468 c155WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the Trade and Industry Committee on its excellent series of reports on the future of ...
Russell Brown | 468 c155-6WH (Link to this contribution) I am listening closely to what the hon. Gentleman is saying. Can I just draw to his attention the fo...
Alan Reid | 468 c156-7WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. I agree with my hon. Friend, in that I have severe doubts about...
Lord Horam | 468 c159-60WH (Link to this contribution) I too shall keep my remarks brief, not only so that other people can speak but to give the Minister ...
Celia Barlow | 468 c157-9WH (Link to this contribution) Our local communities are the bedrock on which our wider society is formed. Hove and Portslade, whic...
Stephen O'Brien | 468 c184WH (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the Minister for giving way to me for a second time. I have tried to explain t...
Pat McFadden | 468 c184-5WH (Link to this contribution) I understand what the hon. Gentleman is saying. However, let us reflect on what my hon. Friend the M...
Pat McFadden | 468 c183-4WH (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman does not mind if I am not drawn into that kind of calculation, becaus...
Mike Weir | 468 c184WH (Link to this contribution) I am glad to hear the Minister say that, but I was told specifically by the Post Office, when I rais...
Pat McFadden | 468 c184WH (Link to this contribution) As I said, 99 outreach services have already been announced and many of the local area plans that ha...
Pat McFadden | 468 c182-3WH (Link to this contribution) A number of banks already have an arrangement with the Post Office for banking transactions to be ca...
Peter Luff | 468 c183WH (Link to this contribution) Does that mean that Postwatch will endure until the end of the consultation process?
Pat McFadden | 468 c183WH (Link to this contribution) Postwatch will become part of the National Consumer Council in October 2008, but the team working on...
Greg Clark | 468 c183WH (Link to this contribution) In Kent, 58 post offices are earmarked for closure. Suppose that 20 of those were in this category a...
Pat McFadden | 468 c181-2WH (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a little progress. I have been asked a lot of questions and I should like to an...
Graham Stuart | 468 c182WH (Link to this contribution) We Conservatives are not suggesting that Ministers should bury their heads in the sand and ignore ch...
Peter Luff | 468 c135WH (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure that the swansong debate of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry, now t...
Speaker | 468 c135WH (Link to this contribution) A huge number of Members wish to speak in the debate, of whom no less than 15 have already advised m...
Peter Luff | 468 c181WH (Link to this contribution) I must reflect on what the Minister just said. We might close post offices, but central costs could ...
Pat McFadden | 468 c181WH (Link to this contribution) The central costs will be reduced as a result of the programme. We shall not have the same central c...
Stephen O'Brien | 468 c181WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way in what was an important aspect of his presentation. I have not ...
Pat McFadden | 468 c181WH (Link to this contribution) It would be difficult for an individual sub-postmaster to see the full picture because central costs...
Mike Weir | 468 c180WH (Link to this contribution) The Minister just said ““up to 2,500””, but that figure seems to have become set. Will the Minister ...
Pat McFadden | 468 c180-1WH (Link to this contribution) There has been a lot of talk about the figure in the debate. The figure is derived from our—the Gove...
Charles Hendry | 468 c179-80WH (Link to this contribution) Something we need to do at an early stage is to separate the Royal Mail and Post Office businesses. ...
Pat McFadden | 468 c180WH (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by acknowledging the strength of feeling on this issue. I have been the Minister respon...
Charles Hendry | 468 c176-9WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) on his introduction to ...
David Kidney | 468 c179WH (Link to this contribution) It was I who mentioned W.H. Smith, Sir John. Royal Mail's management is introducing commercial prac...
Russell Brown | 468 c160-2WH (Link to this contribution) I shall be brief. I wish to share with colleagues the experiences in my constituency after a rural p...
Stephen O'Brien | 468 c162-4WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff), the Chairman of the Se...
Maria Miller | 468 c164-6WH (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Committee's report and the work that it has done. I was privileged to be a member of t...
Graham Stuart | 468 c166-8WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to take part in the debate, not least because it is the most populous debate ever t...
Graham Stuart | 468 c168-9WH (Link to this contribution) I am aware of the limited time and of the time that we want to allow the Minister to give us a forth...
Greg Clark | 468 c170-1WH (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have caught your eye, Sir John, and delighted to participate in this debate on an ex...
Lembit Opik | 468 c171-2WH (Link to this contribution) I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff), who is occasionally m...
Lembit Opik | 468 c172-6WH (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and perhaps all the way to June from time to time. In that sense, it is difficult to see why...
Charles Hendry | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister explain how anyone can bid to help to run the Post Office if the Post Office will n...
Pat McFadden | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) I have spoken to Post Office Ltd about the issue of transparency. I think that we should have as muc...
Lord Young of Cookham | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) The Post Office is like any other national organisation that has headquarters and branches. It is pe...
Pat McFadden | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) I do not want to give the right hon. Gentleman that assurance, because issues of commercial confiden...
John Grogan | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) Several hon. Members have asked whether community organisations or county or parish councils could s...
Pat McFadden | 468 c186WH (Link to this contribution) I would encourage Post Office Ltd to take very seriously any suggestion or proposal such as that, bu...
Pat McFadden | 468 c185-6WH (Link to this contribution) I have given way already to the hon. Gentleman. I would like to make progress. The Chairman of the ...
Peter Luff | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) Sir John, I shall give way to everyone who wishes to make a point, because I think it is only fair, ...
Peter Luff | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) I am very happy to agree with the hon. Gentleman. I shall return to that matter in more detail if I ...
David Drew | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned the issue of rural versus suburban, let alone urban. The social network...
Peter Luff | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) I must say that I am ignorant on that point. Surely the compensation costs will be higher for closin...
Nigel Waterson | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being very generous. May I give him an example from my constituency, in which five...
Peter Luff | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) Can I make a tiny bit of progress and finish my thought? Then I shall give way again, I promise. Th...
Peter Luff | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) I agree. Speaking as someone whose constituency comes at the tail end of this process, I am very con...
Mike Weir | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Luff | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) That is exactly what is happening. One post office is, indeed, competing against another, which is o...
Mike Weir | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman. Is the situation not even worse than that? People who have campaigned ag...
Peter Luff | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) I am approximately one third of the way down my first of nine pages, but I give way with pleasure to...
David Lepper | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise to you, Sir John, and other hon. Members, because I have an event in my constituency at ...
Peter Luff | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I do indeed. Without pre-judging the Committee's inquiry, that is one of the issues that we want to ...
Lord Horam | 468 c137WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend goes to the heart of the matter. How was the 2,500 figure arrived at and how much fle...
Peter Luff | 468 c136-7WH (Link to this contribution) I wear a strictly bipartisan hat today. I sit on the Opposition side of the House, but I represent a...
Peter Luff | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I am not surprised to hear from my hon. Friend.
Maria Miller | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way on that point. He may be aware that the two post offices propo...
Peter Luff | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I rather suspect that that question was meant more for the Minister than for me. First, let me say h...
Speaker | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions must be brief, particularly in these circumstances.
Peter Bone | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) I regret that I shall not be serving on the new Committee, which I should have liked to have done. I...
Peter Luff | 468 c136WH (Link to this contribution) Of course, I shall give way to my former colleague on the Committee.
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 468 c147WH (Link to this contribution) Is that not similar to the threatening tone of the letter that was sent in the summer to sub-post ma...
Mike Weir | 468 c146-7WH (Link to this contribution) I shall try to be as brief as the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Derek Wyatt). I served...
Speaker | 468 c146WH (Link to this contribution) That was an excellent example.
Baroness Hoey | 468 c144WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend—he is a friend—for the excellent report that we have in front of us. Did he o...
Peter Luff | 468 c144-5WH (Link to this contribution) As always, the hon. Lady makes a powerful and important point, and I can only agree with her. I sha...
Speaker | 468 c145WH (Link to this contribution) May I make a plea, yet again, for brevity? I am going to have difficulty accommodating those who hav...
Derek Wyatt | 468 c145-6WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) on the debate. I go back to this...
Peter Luff | 468 c142-3WH (Link to this contribution) I hope that you understand, Sir John, why I was prepared to give way to my hon. Friend. The Post Off...
Mark Francois | 468 c141-2WH (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. I am campaigning to save the Chase post office in Rayleigh. In that context,...
Peter Luff | 468 c143-4WH (Link to this contribution) No, I must plough on, unless an hon. Member who has not intervened does so. I apologise for that. I ...
Sandra Gidley | 468 c143WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Luff | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely right. I did say that I would stop giving way, but I promised before the debate t...
Speaker | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) May I just say that the hon. Gentleman has given way 15 times, I believe, and that he will not be ab...
Peter Luff | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) Winter in the highlands and school holidays in Worcestershire sound equally mad to me.
David Lepper | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Luff | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I will give way, but I am looking around and may have to stop giving way soon.
Danny Alexander | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He referred to the timing of the consultation pr...
Peter Luff | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) No, I shall stop giving way for a while now. I have to make some progress, as I have a series of que...
David Leslie Taylor | 468 c140WH (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether it is an advantage to be last in the process, because I think that when the ch...
Peter Luff | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is absolutely right. In my own case, consultations for Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire...
Sandra Gidley | 468 c141WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that some of my proposed closures are close to the Wiltshir...
Peter Luff | 468 c140WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that important point. I cannot say that I am looking ...
Russell Brown | 468 c139WH (Link to this contribution) I am just seeking clarification. The hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) said that the sub-pos...
Peter Luff | 468 c139WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Sub-postmasters themselves know how much money they make. It...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 468 c139WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend had reached a point in his speech, if he can remember that far back, when he was deal...
Peter Luff | 468 c139-40WH (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an extremely powerful point. Indeed, the regional spatial strategy plan r...
Peter Luff | 468 c140WH (Link to this contribution) I was about to make a point about my own constituency, but I shall give way.
Peter Luff | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) I do indeed. My right hon. Friend anticipates something that I intend to speak about shortly in my r...
Oliver Letwin | 468 c138WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend recognise that the discussions about which post offices should be closed down cr...
Peter Luff | 468 c139WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. In fact, I find it difficult to understand how the Post Office can appr...
Jeremy Wright | 468 c138-9WH (Link to this contribution) On the consultation, did my hon. Friend see in the press over the weekend reports of a list of post ...
Subjects
Access Cost effectiveness Closures Government assistance Public participation Post offices
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
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