To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to his answer of 5 November, Official Report, column 61, how many Post Office Crown branch offices in (a) Great Britain and (b) South Wales are currently in each of the three categories A, B and C specified by Post Office Counters.

[holding 18 November 1991]: The numbers of Crown post offices currently in categories A, B and C in (a) Britain and (b) South Wales Counters district are as follows:

	A	B	C
Britain	484	430	161
South Wales	20	12

The categories A, B and C referred to represent very broad sizing guidelines indicating large, medium-sized and small offices respectively. As such, the number in each category should not be regarded as hard and fast.