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Written question asked by Gavin Shuker (Labour) on Thursday, 13 December 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 December 2018. It was answered by Kelly Tolhurst (Conservative) on Thursday, 20 December 2018 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Post Offices: Luton

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations his Department has received on the closure of the main post office in central Luton.

Answer

The Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office and allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business.  This strategy, backed by Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010, has delivered a branch network that is at its most stable and accessible in decades, with over 11,500 branches and 99.7% of the UK population living within 3 miles of their nearest branch.  This investment in the Post Office has also led to other benefits to the consumer including an extra 200,000 opening hours per week and over 7,500 modernised branches.

There is no Post Office closure or privatisation programme and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy has not received any representations on the franchising of the Post Office in Luton. The Post Office ran a 6-week public consultation from 24 October 2018 to 5 December 2018 and will write to locally elected representatives, Consumer Advocacy Bodies and respondents to the consultation on its decisions and plans.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
202060
Session
2017-19
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2019-0016
Thursday, 20 December 2018
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects
Closures Post offices Luton
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk