The obligation to ensure convenient access for communities with real special need referred to in section 3.4 of the consultation document on the future of the Post Office network is to be placed on Post Office Ltd.
The Scottish Executive and Postwatch Scotland have no formal role in the national consultation on the future of the Post Office network, but comments from these and any other interested parties are welcome.
[holding answer 6 February 2007]: In relation to the Post Office Network consultation document, an urban area is defined as a settlement of more than 10,000 inhabitants. A rural area is defined as a settlement of fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. There is no departmental definition of a remote area as no access criteria proposals relate solely to ‘remote’ areas.
Alongside the Government’s proposed national access criteria, is the criterion that 95 per cent. of the population in postcode districts should be within six miles of a post office service. Implicit in this criterion is a safeguard for people in remote areas who might otherwise not have been assured of reasonable accessibility to services under nationally applied criteria alone.
[holding answer 6 February 2007]: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Mr. Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.