Post Offices: Cash Withdrawal Services Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Cameron of Dillington
Main Page: Lord Cameron of Dillington (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Cameron of Dillington's debates with the Northern Ireland Office
(5 years, 2 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that other countries, including France, the Netherlands and New Zealand, have saved much of their rural post office network by supporting their role as deliverers of financial services? Is he further aware that there are now more post offices in rural England than all the banks put together? In some areas of rural England, only post offices are serving the financial needs of local traders. Will the Government please offer some financial or fiscal incentive for Post Office Counters Ltd and all the banks to work together to ensure that the future of their local traders and communities is safe?
The noble Lord is correct. Since 2010 we have invested £2.3 billion in the Post Office network, stabilising the number of banks. There was a 27% decrease in the 10 years before 2014. The decrease since then has been only 1%—the money is making a difference.