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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of Post Office closures on high street footfall in (a) Coventry and (b) other towns and cities across the country.

The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.

The management of the Post Office network is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited who are responsible for maintaining the network of branches and achieving the accessibility criteria set by Government. The Post Office does not have branch closure programme, rather they are seeking to open new branches. Branches can sometimes change location as a result of the Post Office Network Transformation Programme or franchising.