Future of the Post Office

Debate between Viscount Brookeborough and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Monday 18th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my noble friend for his considerable work campaigning on this issue. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for that. He is right that there is a toxic culture from the top down. I, and my department, believe that the new leadership at the Post Office will address that issue from the top down. That is partly to do with some of the individuals who are still there, and we are waiting for the result of the inquiry before we can potentially take any action against them. There are issues too about the senior pay of too many people at the Post Office. Quite frankly, we need to rationalise it and make it fit for the 21st century from the top down. That is the way we are approaching this issue.

With regard to Fujitsu, again, my noble friend will know that we are trying to find a way to embed a new system that will replace Horizon. Work is ongoing to make sure that this is happening; it is not happening as quickly as we would like. Fujitsu is, in a sense, still providing some of the services because we do not have an alternative to provide them at the moment. The sooner we can get a modern IT system that is fit for purpose into the Post Office the better. We are working towards being able to do that.

[Viscount Brookeborough (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister appears quite optimistic, but does she not accept that the withdrawal of some of these post offices through closures hits the most vulnerable people in rural communities? It is no good saying that this will be coped with; withdrawal means that many people will not have these services available.

I was on an inquiry to do with financial services a few years ago. When bank branches were closing, we were assured that post offices would be able to do the banking job for small businesses. Nobody really knew what was going on at the time but they were told that they would have to cope. We are, however, now closing post offices. Talking of consultation, we asked every bank whether they had consulted and they said yes. We could not find one branch that was not closed as a result of consultation yet there is simply nobody who will say that local financial services should be closed.

The Minister talks about the ambitions of the Post Office. What about the ambitions of the clients and the public? This is very serious, because the banks and the Post Office are bouncing off each other and reducing services one by one. It is unacceptable.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I reiterate that we are ambitious for the Post Office. No decision has been taken about any potential closures of any post offices. There is a consultation taking place and we are trying to find a way to keep those post offices open in whatever way we can, whether that is providing different services or under different management. There is a guarantee that in both rural and urban areas a minimum provision of post offices must be provided, and the Post Office has confirmed to us that it will maintain that agreement, so it is a mistake to assume that they will close. I do not think there is any evidence of that at the moment. We are trying to find an alternative way to keep them open.