Post Office

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that I will do that. As he says, he raised the issue of Hay-on-Wye with me and, thankfully, there is no threat to that service. He raises the wider point of the important commercial relationship between Royal Mail and the Post Office. They are natural partners that operate together for a mutual benefit, which will, I am sure, continue long into the future.

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

I thank the Minister for her statement. With particular reference to Northern Ireland, where there have been bank branch closures, will she give assurances that she will have discussions with the major banks and her colleagues in the Treasury to ensure that banking services can be transferred to post offices, particularly in rural areas, to provide accessibility to services and, in so doing, sustain rural post offices?

[Jo Swinson]

Absolutely. The hon. Lady is right to raise that issue. Of course it is very good news that 95% of the main UK bank accounts are now available through post offices; only Santander is so far holding out. But in the meeting that I had with sub-postmasters from Northern Ireland last week, they did mention that there were some specific Northern Ireland issues around the full range of banking services. I am more than happy to look into those and encourage banks to ensure that they are provided. Of course, there is also the new current account, which has been piloted and will be rolled out across the post office network. The post office should be an obvious place for people to undertake their banking transactions.