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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any significant initiatives, policies, programmes or projects of the Post Office were overseen by the Government since 1 January 2000; and if so, what they were and how were they managed.

The Government has not overseen any specific project at the Post Office. It is important that the company is allowed to run as an independent, commercial business, albeit in compliance with the principles set out in Managing Public Money.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has appointed a Non-Executive Director (NED) on the POL Board since its separation from Royal Mail in 2012. From 2014 onwards this role has been performed by UKGI (previously the Shareholder Executive).

Before 2012, there was no representation at Board level (within Royal Mail Group). The Shareholder Executive provided a monitoring function and reported to the relevant department (BEIS, BIS, BERR and DTI).

The BEIS Permanent Secretary has some key controls of the Post Office – namely approval of the annual business plan, some financing aspects of the company and approval of any specific commitments above £50m.