Petitions
Tuesday 25 March 2008
OBSERVATIONS
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Post Office Closures (Hampshire)
The Humble Petition of Mr Christopher Donnithorne retired and others,
That the Post Office is proposing to close Bury Cross Post Office at Gosport regardless of National Health Service plans to extend the Gosport War Memorial Hospital (immediately opposite said Bury Cross Post Office) to handle a minimum of 50,000 patients a year. That the potential customer base, for shops and services within 150 yards of this Post Office, will rapidly exceed the total population of the Gosport peninsula. That the Post Office closure proposal is based on inaccurate information, there being for example, no direct public transport links to either of the identified alternative venues. With the significant growth potential, good public transport link, and modern disabled facilities, closure of this busy Post Office at a bustling main road junction does not make sense, either in business or public service terms.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House shall urge Post Office Ltd to reconsider this particular closure proposal.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. —[Presented by Peter Viggers , Official Report, 16 January 2008; Vol. 470, c. 1047.] [P000089]
Observations by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform :
The Government fully recognise the important social and economic role of post offices, particularly in rural and deprived urban communities. That is why they are determined to maintain a national post office network allowing people to have reasonable access across the whole country and have put in place a new policy and financial framework to achieve this. The Government have been investing substantial sums in the post office network, totalling £2 billion since 1999. That has, for example, paid for a computer link-up for every post office as well as support for non-commercial branches since 2003.
In their response to the consultation on the Post Office network the Government announced in May 2007 confirmation of their decision to extend funding of up to £1.7 billion to 2011, including provision of £150 million Social Network Payment to support the post office network up to 2011. The Government strategy includes provision for 2,500 compensated closures and 500 new Outreach services.
The 500 new and innovative Outreach locations, operated in partnership with other local services such as in pubs, village halls, churches or in mobile post offices, will mitigate closures, primarily in smaller and more remote communities. Nevertheless, to ensure sustainability, there will need to be up to 2,500 compensated post office closures within the defined access criteria.
Post Office Limited (POL) is responsible for implementing the network change programme at a local level. It is developing a rolling programme of some 50 local consultations on detailed area plans, based on groups of Parliamentary constituencies. The first area plans went out to local consultation on 2 October last year and these plans will continue to be rolled out at regular intervals until August with the whole programme scheduled to take around 15 months to complete. The consultation period for Hampshire ended on 26 November last year. POL has announced its final decision. Having considered all representations and the criteria for the network change programme POL confirmed that it has been decided that the Bury Cross branch will close. Post Office Ltd has published its decision in the Area Plan Booklet for the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight area, which is available on its website at www.postoffice.co.uk/networkchange.
POL develops its proposals with the participation of sub-postmasters, local authorities and the consumer watchdog, Postwatch, and takes into account the numeric access criteria set out by Government as well as local factors affecting ease of access, such as local geography: rivers, mountains etc when drawing up its implementation plans. POL is also required to consider the availability of public transport and alternative access to key post office services, local demographics and the impact on the local economy. Local consultations provide the opportunity to raise any specific concerns over particular proposals.
The Government do not have a role in proposals or decisions for individual post offices. No decisions on individual Post Offices are taken until after local consultations. Those decisions are made by POL in light of the responses to the consultation while subject to a four-stage appeals process involving Postwatch. The Review Process for closure decisions after public consultation process applies where Postwatch shows that, for an individual branch:
POL has not given due consideration to material evidence received during the public consultation in coming to its decision or;
where evidence emerges from the consultation that the proposal for the branch does not meet the Government’s policy requirements.
The aim of the further review process is for POL and Postwatch to reach an agreed way forward by bilateral review with 3 stages available at increasing levels of seniority. A recent addition to the review process provides for very difficult cases which remain unresolved after stage 3. In this instance, Allan Leighton, Chairman of Royal Mail Group, will review the issues and reach a final decision.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Palestinian Community of Jayyous
The Humble Petition of Ms Cate Mowat and others of like disposition,
That families within the Palestinian community of Jayyous are being forced off their agricultural land due to a lack of water from wells. Five of the groundwater wells which they previously had access to are now situated beyond the new Israeli wall. The Israeli authorities are refusing permits to drill new wells on Jayyous land.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House shall urge the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to consider the plight of the community within Jayyous and to pressurise the Israeli authorities to allow new wells to be drilled on their land.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. —[Presented by Michael Connarty , Official Report, 27 February 2008; Vol. 472, c. 1206.] [P000088]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs:
The Government are concerned at the impact the barrier has on the lives of Palestinians, and deplore the destruction of Palestinian homes and the confiscation of Palestinian land associated with its construction. We are concerned about the effects the building of the barrier has on the Palestinian community of Jayyous and their access to agricultural land and water. The Foreign Affairs Committee had a briefing on Jayyous during their trip to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories from 28-30 March 2007. The EU has raised this issue with the Israeli Government. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv and Consulate-General in Jerusalem continue to monitor the situation in the West Bank and raise our concerns when appropriate.
The Government continue to make clear that Israel should halt the construction of the barrier on Palestinian land. This practice is contrary to international law and threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution. The Israeli Government should not create facts on the ground, which might prejudice final status negotiations. We fully recognise Israel's right to self-defence and agree that a barrier is a reasonable way to achieve this. However, we call for the barrier to be built either on or behind the Green Line. The route, which the Israeli Cabinet approved on 20 February 2005, takes in a number of Israeli settlements, illegal under international law. It also contributes to the fragmentation of the West Bank, which in turn undermines prospects for a negotiated two-state solution.
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