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 provision of Post Offices within (a) Slough and (b) Berkshire.

The Government protects the sustainability of the branch network by providing funding on the basis that the Post Office meets its minimum access criteria to ensure that, across the country, 99% of the population live within three miles of their nearest Post Office including those living in Slough and Berkshire. The Government works to ensure Post Office Limited maintains a minimum number of branches and a geographical spread of branches in line with published access criteria. Along with the annual £50 million subsidy, we are providing a further £37.5 million this year to safeguard services in the uncommercial parts of the network.