asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will instruct Post Office Limited to make available all relevant financial information pertaining to those post office branches earmarked for closure to outside parties with a serious and credible interest in keeping such establishments open; and whether it will suspend the timetable for closures until that information is available.[HL1024]

Disclosure of financial information concerning post office branches earmarked for closure under the network change programme is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. The Government do not have a role in proposals or decisions for individual post offices and final decisions on which post offices will close are taken by Post Office Ltd in light of the responses received to the area consultations.

However, Post Office Ltd is putting in place a process for responding to serious expressions of interest and where a firm proposal for local funding emerges, Post Office Ltd will delay physical closure of the existing branch in that locality for a stipulated period to allow both funding and a contract to be put in place.