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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much and what proportion of the £370m investment funding the Department has allocated to Post Office branches has been allocated to (a) the North East and (b) Thornaby Post Office.

The Government has provided nearly £2 billion in investment since 2010, and is providing a further £370 million between April 2018 and March 2021. The allocation of funding to specific branches and regions is an operational matter for Post Office Limited. However, branches all over the country have benefited, with the network at its most stable in decades. Over 7,500 branches have been modernised, there are nearly a million additional opening hours per month and over 4,400 branches open on Sunday.