Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2025 to Question 59153 on High Street Businesses: North Shropshire, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the Post Office network in North Shropshire.

The Government is committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the Post Office network. This includes protecting the network by setting minimum access criteria (for example, to ensure that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office). To ensure Post Office provision in communities, such as North Shropshire, the Government plans to provide up to £83 million of network subsidy in this financial year. This is an increase from the £50 million p.a. provided in the previous Parliament and follows a similar uplift in the 2024/25 financial year.