Memorandum submitted by Michael Jabez
MP
I understand that your Committee are close to
producing a report, which I look forward to reading. I understand
from your Clerks Department, however, that this is only an interim
report and that you may be pursuing a further inquiry.
I apologise that I have not previously replied
to a letter I note you wrote on the 6 December, as I have been
very engaged in the "fight" in my own constituency and
seeking to find the justification for some of the decisions.
The particular concern that I would want to
bring to your attention, in case you have the chance to further
review it, is the central costs imposed on sub-post offices and
which, in turn, seems to have led to the decisions to close those
in my constituency, and others.
The principled point is that Post Office Ltd
have steadfastly refused to disclose their financial details which
I think is, of itself, wrong, given that they are a public body.
Prior to an adjournment debate, which I was involved in, in respect
of the Hastings offices, I met with Post Office Ltd who initially
offered me some information "in confidence". I said
I would not accept it "in confidence" but by then they
had passed information to me which appears not generally to have
been in the public domain.
In short, in looking at the four post offlces
in my constituency that were "up for closure", I was
able to discover that the cost of paying salary and commission
to the local postmaster to run the service was, in some cases,
less than the on-costs attributed to central services to support
that operation. Offices are not the same as MacDonald's or Burger
King bars, but to have an on-cost that is actually greater than
the cost of providing the services does seem surprising. When
I asked for a further breakdown, for example as to how much would
be saved from central costs if a post office was closed ie the
sorts of cost of delivering money etc, I was told it was about
a third. This obviously led me to the conclusion that the central
costs are much wider than the support of any particular local
office and that, in turn, that additional cost is presumably shared
out across other post offices that are kept open and thus, in
turn, probably makes them unprofitable.
I do think that there is a need for a route
and branch enquiry into post office costs. What are they loading
onto these local offices that makes them so unprofitable.
I've asked some Parliamentary questions but
it seems that the information about central costs is not held
by Government but by the Post Office. I do not get the answers
I need. I intend to pursue these through public information requests.
11 February 2008
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