To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent assessment his Department has made of the merits of the Post Bank initiative. (282620)

Post Office Ltd. currently plays a vital role providing access to financial services through its national network of around 11,500 branches. It already offers an extensive range of financial services products including savings, insurance, mortgages, credit cards, and over 1,600 free-to-use cash machines providing further access to cash across the network.

We are keen for Post Office Ltd. to increase its financial services offering using its unrivalled network to put a wider range of services within reasonable reach of the whole UK population.