Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with the Post Office Ltd on cutting exceptional payments for post offices.

While publicly owned, Post Office, as a commercial business with its own Board, operates at arm’s length from the Government. Therefore, the issue around exceptional payments is an operational matter for the Post Office.

The Post Office has however informed my officials that they have taken the decision to pause making further changes to exceptional payments until later this autumn.