Petitions
Tuesday 10 June 2008
Observations
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Post Office Closures (Swindon)
The Humble Petition of customers of Guildford Avenue Post Office,
That the Petitioners believe that the branch provides a vital service to the local community.
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House urges the Government to ensure that the Guildford Avenue Post Office is retained.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. —[Presented by Anne Snelgrove , Official Report, 12 March 2008; Vol. 473, c. 382.] [P000146]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform :
The Government fully recognises the important social and economic role of post offices, particularly in rural and deprived urban communities. That is why it is determined to maintain a national post office network, allowing people to have reasonable access across the whole country, and why it has put in place a new policy and financial framework to achieve this. The Government has invested £2 billion in the post office network 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 its response to the consultation on the Post Office network, the Government announced its decision to extend funding of up to £1.7 billion to 2011, including provision of a £150 million Social Network Payment to support the post office network up to this time. 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 pubs, village halls, churches and mobile post offices), will mitigate closures, primarily in smaller and more remote communities. POL announced on 9 April that it will extend Outreach trials into urban areas which, if successful, could mean additional Outreach branches over and above the 500 originally planned. Nevertheless, 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 41 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 West Berkshire and Wiltshire
finished on 31 January and POL announced its final decisions on 22 February, which are available on their website at: www.postoffice.co.uk/networkchange.
Having considered all representations and the criteria for the network change programme POL has confirmed that the Lawn Post Office branch on Guildford Avenue will close.
POL develops its proposals with the participation of sub-postmasters, local authorities and the consumer watchdog, Postwatch. When drawing up its implementation plans, POL 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). 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 does 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 the 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;
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. An addition to the review process provides for very difficult cases which remain unresolved after stage 3. At this stage the Chairman of Royal Mail Group will review the issues and reach a final decision.
The Humble Petition of customers of Westcott Place Post Office,
That the Petitioners believe that the branch provides a vital service to the local community
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that your Honourable House urges the Government to ensue that the Westcott Place Post Office is retained.
And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. —[Presented by Anne Snelgrove , Official Report, 12 March 2008; Vol. 473, c. 382.] [P000147]
Observations by the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform :
The Government fully recognises the important social and economic role of post offices, particularly in rural and deprived urban communities. That is why it is determined to maintain a national post office network, allowing people to have reasonable access across the whole country, and why it has put in place a new policy and financial framework to achieve this. The Government has invested £2 billion in the post office network 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 its response to the consultation on the Post Office network, the Government announced its decision to extend funding of up to £1.7 billion to 2011, including provision of a £150 million Social Network Payment to support the post office network up to this time. 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 pubs, village halls, churches and mobile post offices), will mitigate closures, primarily in smaller and more remote communities. POL announced on 9 April that it will extend Outreach trials into urban areas which, if successful, could mean additional Outreach branches over and above the 500 originally planned. Nevertheless, 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 41 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 this July with the whole programme scheduled to take around 15 months to complete. The consultation period for West Berkshire and Wiltshire ended on 31 January. POL announced its final decisions on 22 February. Having considered all representations and the criteria for the network change programme POL has confirmed that the Westcott Place branch will close. Post Office Ltd has published their decision in the Area Plan Booklet for the West Berkshire and Wiltshire area, which is available on their website at:
www.postoffice.co.uk/networkchange.
POL develops its proposals with the participation of sub-postmasters, local authorities and the consumer watchdog, Postwatch. When drawing up its implementation plans, POL 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). 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 does 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 the 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;
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. An addition to the review process provides for
very difficult cases which remain unresolved after stage 3. At this stage the Chairman of Royal Mail Group will review the issues and reach a final decision.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
UK Foreign Policy (Israel and the Palestinians)
The Petition of constituents of Bristol West,
Declares that despite ongoing human rights violations and the UK government's own export guidelines, the UK has consistently licensed exports to Israel for military equipment, thus providing material support for Israeli aggression, and sending a message of approval for its actions; further declares that the Israelis have declared Gaza a “hostile entity” within a “conflict short of war” and that the collective punishment of a civilian population is prohibited in international law.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to seek to end the siege on the Palestinians and to support Palestinian democracy by stopping arming Israel; reconsidering the UK's policy of refusing to provide aid to the Palestinian Authority following Hamas' election victory in January 2006 and pressing Israel to release all elected Palestinian parliamentarians, as well as other political prisoners; to censure the decision by the Israel cabinet to impose sanctions on supplies of electricity, fuel, and other basic goods and services to the civilian population of Gaza, to cease colluding with this act of State Terrorism against innocent people; and to work towards a just solution based on international law and an end to Israeli occupation.
And the Petitioners remain, etc. —[Presented by Stephen Williams , Official Report, 5 March 2008; Vol. 472, c. 1882.] [P000138]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs:
The bedrock of our approach on the MEPP is threefold—first, to be unstinting in our support for the principle of a two-state solution; second, to give every support to all those who are committed to peaceful progress in the region; and third, to support economic and social development across the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
All direct export licence applications, including for arms exports to Israel, are assessed on a case by case basis against the consolidated European Union (EU) and national UK arms export licensing criteria. The UK arms trade with Israel constitutes only 0.1% of Israel's total arms imports. The UK has not sold main equipment such as tanks, aircraft, warships or artillery to Israel since 1997.
Since the outbreak of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) in September 2000, we have taken account of Israeli military tactics in our licensing decisions. The outbreak of the intifada, the continued Israeli incursions in the OPTs and the breach of Israel’s assurance that UK-originated equipment would not be used in the OPTs have all been factored into the Government's current export licensing policy.
The UK did not provide aid to the Palestinian Authority whilst Hamas were in government, however we continued to provide funds to the Palestinian people in 2006-7 through the EU’s Temporary International Mechanism. The Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) was
designed to support Palestinian institutions at a time when we could not give direct aid to the Palestinian Authority. Its successor mechanism, PEGASE, now allows us to give direct budgetary support to the Palestinian Authority. These TIM and PEGASE contributions are used to pay allowances for Palestinian government workers including teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers who have been working to maintain power supplies in Gaza. At the Paris Donors’ Conference in December 2007, the UK pledged £243 million over the next three years depending on political progress. This money was pledged in support of the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan, designed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to create a long lasting and viable Palestinian economy.
We continue to call for all the elected members of the Palestinian government detained by Israel to be either released or subject to the due legal process. The Quartet also called for the release of the politicians. All Palestinian prisoners should have access to a fair trial, and we call upon Israel to ensure that any actions are in accordance with international law. We are in close contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who monitor conditions in Israeli prisons. Where appropriate we raise our concerns with the Israeli authorities. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has stressed its commitment to honouring its international obligations with regard to the humane and dignified treatment of prisoners.
We are deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza. We recognise Israel's right to defend
itself in a way consistent with international law. But we do not believe that closing the crossings or restricting the supply of goods or electricity is the right response to rocket attacks. The International Development Secretary and I issued joint statements on the situation in Gaza and Sderot on 11 January, 21 January and on 8 February. These statements clearly stated that the UK did not support Israel's decision to close all crossings into Gaza, preventing the delivery of vital humanitarian supplies as well as fuel to the Gaza power station. We recognise Israel's right to defend itself in a way consistent with international law. We deplore the fact that innocent civilians on both sides are suffering. Both Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace and security.
In London on 2 May Foreign Minister Livni and Prime Minister Fayyad met the Foreign Secretary, the International Development Secretary, Quartet members, Arab states and other members of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC). This was the first major international discussion of the Middle East Peace Process in 2008. For the first time humanitarian issues were discussed at the AHLC. At the meeting the Quartet expressed deep concern at Palestinian civilian casualties and called for the opening of Gaza crossings.
We will continue to work for a just solution to the Palestinian question based on the principle of two states living side-by-side in peace and security under international law.
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