Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve access to Post Office services in (a) Gloucester and (b) the South West.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government remains committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Post Office network, and as stated in our manifesto, Government will work to strengthen the network in the South West and across the country in consultation with postmasters, trade unions and customers.
Government already provides an annual £50m Network Subsidy funding to support the delivery of a minimum number of branches and a geographical spread of branches in line with published access criteria. This requires 99% of the UK population to be within three miles of their nearest Post Office outlet therefore ensuring the viability of rural and community branches. The Government-set Access Criteria ensures that however the network changes, services remain within local reach of all citizens.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support business investment in (a) Gloucester constituency and (b) the South West.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) promotes and supports investment opportunities across all of the UK. In Gloucester, DBT has a strong relationship with the County Council and proactively promotes the counties sector strengths, particularly in areas such as Technology and Cyber Security, AgriTech and Advanced Manufacturing. This includes highlighting key developments like The Forum in Gloucester City Centre.
DBT recognises the strength of opportunity across the South West region for investors, both in the sectors listed above but also in Floating Offshore Wind, Critical Minerals, Nuclear, Quantum and AI. In addition, Tata’s announcement earlier this year to build a gigafactory in Somerset is expected to create further opportunities for inward investors in the region.