Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of Citizens Advice Bureau offices which have closed since 2012-13.

The Department does not hold this information as central Government funds the umbrella organisation, Citizens Advice, but not individual bureaux. We have obtained the following information from Citizens Advice:

• There are currently 292 local members (legal entities, formally known as CAB). There were 360 members at April 2012, representing a reduction of 68.

• Citizens Advice has noted this reduction results mainly from a number of mergers of legal entities to provide efficiencies so that more resources can be targeted to frontline advice.

• Generally across England and Wales, the number of access points for advice remains largely the same – 2,700 community locations, including GP surgeries, libraries and courts.

• There have been 9 closures since April 2012, resulting from either the local service being no longer financially viable due to financial mismanagement, failure to address decreasing funding or the loss of a competitive tendering process.

• In all cases where a closure has been necessary, Citizens Advice strive to continue to provide face to face services in those areas, albeit sometimes this has had to be reduced.