Letter from Norman Baker MP
Thank you for your letter of 6 December in connection
with the evidence session your Committee is planning for 29 January
and 5 February relating to the restructuring of the Post Office
network. You ask for my views on this matter and I am, of course,
very happy to oblige.
I am afraid that the consultation exercise has
been regarded with some cynicism my constituents and particularly
by those responsible for running sub-post offices locally. This
is partly due to a general sense of cynicism about consultation
exercises, but more specifically in this case because the Government
has set a target for a reduction in the number of sub-post offices
and the consultation exercise therefore is one which most people
regard as unlikely to change very much from the proposals for
closures set out by the Post Office.
What has been more positive, however, has been
the willingness of the Post Office (and Royal Mail) to engage
in discussions about this matter and I was able to arrange a meeting
at relatively short notice with key personnel from the two organisations
to run through the proposals for our constituency. We had a useful
chat and were able to make a number of points which had apparently
not been taken into account. Whether this changes anything or
not it is too early to say but I did personally feel that the
meeting was useful.
I am also aware that the local District Council
asked for a meeting with the Post Office about the proposals and
that was also granted at relatively short notice.
The other good feature was the decision of the
Post Office to supply Members of Parliament with information in
advance of this being publicly announced, which both allowed MPs
to have essential prior notice of the planned announcement but
also to have more specific details than those featured in the
public announcement.
In short therefore I would say that the actions
of the Post Office have been satisfactory and indeed even in some
respects represent good practice, but as the matter appears to
have been predetermined by the Government in any case, the value
of that exercise is still questionable.
I hope this is helpful
13 December 2007
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