To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the proportion of people in rural areas who use post offices regularly; and what research he has evaluated on that proportion. (126597)

The Department has considered information on post offices in rural areas from a range of sources including Postcomm, Post Office Ltd. and National Federation of Sub-Postmasters. Post Office Ltd.'s rural pilot activity report, published in March 2006, indicates that the rural network serves a rural population of 21 million people. However, analysis of customer usage levels also indicates that a total of 1,600 rural post offices serve fewer than 20 customers a day.