Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Post Office board.

Annually, in line with the Financial Reporting Council’s Corporate Governance Code, the Post Office Board runs a Board Evaluation exercise to determine skills gaps on the Board and areas for improvement. The outcomes of this review are shared with DBT as the Post Office Shareholder. The Government monitors the implementation of their recommendations via the Shareholder Representative, UK Government Investments, to support the continuous improvement of the Board.

In line with Post Office’s governance framework, the Government recently approved the Post Office Chair to lead the recruitment of new Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) specialising in technological transformation and organisational design to complement the Board’s existing composition. A further two new Postmaster NEDs should join the Board in the near future, providing an ongoing voice on behalf of the postmaster community.