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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the end of the transition period on (a) the Post Office Ltd subsidy entrustment letter written to align with EU requirements and (b) how that subsidy is distributed to subpostmasters.

The Post Office entrustment letter for the last spending review period was in part put in place to ensure compliance with EU State aid rules. The EU State aid rules no longer apply now the UK has left the European Union. For the next Spending Review Period, which will take effect in April 2021, a new funding agreement will be agreed with Post Office. This will take full account of the new Trade and Cooperation Agreement requirements on subsidy.

The £50m network subsidy will be distributed to postmasters by Post Office Ltd and is therefore an operational matter for Post Office Ltd.