Select Committee on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Third Report


Formal Minutes


Thursday 7 February 2008

Members present:

Peter Luff, in the Chair
Mr Adrian Bailey

Roger Berry

Mr Brian Binley

Mark Hunter

Mr Mike Weir

Draft Report (Post Office Closure Programme), proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the Chairman's draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 37 read and agreed to.

Paragraph 38 read.

Amendment proposed, in line 18, to leave out from "whole." to the end of the paragraph and add

  "Whilst we recognise that the purpose of the Programme is to ensure that there is a sustainable national network nonetheless given the large amount of taxpayer's money funding this scheme we also believe that the need to ensure that business is transferred from closing post offices to remaining offices must be balanced against the needs of a community that is losing its post office. The purpose of the payment is to compensate post masters for the loss of their post office business. We do not think it is acceptable to reduce compensation in order to discourage someone who is losing the Post Office part of their business from taking on Paypoint, or any other service, that might help their revenue stream, the survival of the remainder of the business and provide some facilities to the community." —(Mr Mike Weir.)

Question put, That the Amendment be made.

The Committee divided:

Ayes, 2

Mr Brian Binley

Mr Mike Weir

Noes, 2

Mr Adrian Bailey

Roger Berry

Whereupon the Chairman declared himself with the Noes.

Another Amendment proposed, in line 27, at the end, to add

"However, it is particularly important that Paypoint should not be used by Post Office Ltd as a negotiating tool for the purposes of agreeing final compensation."—(Mr Brian Binley.)

Question put, That the Amendment be made.

The Committee divided.

Ayes, 2

Mr Brian Binley

Mr Mike Weir

Noes, 2

Mr Adrian Bailey

Roger Berry

Whereupon the Chairman declared himself with the Noes.

Paragraph agreed to.

Paragraphs 39 to 47 read and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Report be the Third Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chairman make the Report to the House.

Written evidence was ordered to be reported to the House for printing.

[Adjourned till Thursday 21 February at 9.00 am


 
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Prepared 8 February 2008