To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of post offices that will be required for the Post Office to meet the new access criteria that he has proposed. (130375)

No such estimate has been made. Following Government’s final decisions, which I expect to announce in May, Post Office Ltd. will develop specific plans for the network which ensure that the access criteria are met. Those plans will also reflect the Government framework of a maximum of 2,500 compensated closures of sub-post offices.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reasons were for delaying the response to the consultation on the future of the Post Office from March to May. (130376)

The Department received over 2,500 representations to its consultation on the Post Office network. We need more time to give full consideration to the comments submitted and hope to be able to announce our final decisions in May.