Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many sub-post office branches have closed in each local authority area in the East of England in each year since 2005.

The Post Office is managed by Post Office Ltd, which operates independently of Government. As the information requested is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd, I have asked Paula Vennells, Chief Executive Officer of Post Office Ltd, to reply to the hon. Member directly, and a copy will be placed in the libraries of the House.

It is, however, worth noting that in November 2010 published its policy statement, “Securing the Post Office network in the digital age”, which made clear commitments to end the programmes of branch closure of the previous administration, and to instead invest in maintaining and modernising a network of at least 11,500 branches that meets strict access criteria that see, for example, 99.7% of the population nationally living within three miles of a post office outlet.