00:00Helen Morgan. Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker. I was pleased to hear the Minister say that the overall size and shape of the post office network should remain the same so that we can minimise the impact on communities. But in my North Shropshire constituency, the size and shape of the post office is rapidly shrinking because of the fundamental fragility of the way that it's set up.
00:21The retirement of a single post mistress because of the rent going up on her shop has led to the closure of outreach services across the constituency and the access criteria consider you to be within three miles of a post office if that post office is an outreach service opened for a single hour a week.
00:37It's not acceptable for rural communities, many of whom don't have a bus for many, many hours during the day. Will the Minister commit to looking at a sustainable model for rural post offices so that people can genuinely access cash and the other services they need and particularly if they don't have a car?
00:54Minister.
00:55Well, I completely accept the significance of the post office in rural communities in particular, but it's equally essential that we have access to post office services in urban areas too.
01:09She references the fragility of the post office, and that's certainly the case in terms of finding, or has been the case in certain communities, in being able to find postmasters willing to step forward and take on the role of running a post office franchise.
01:28That's why the initial steps the post office management have taken to increase postmaster remuneration are important in helping to make the task of running a post office more attractive.
01:39It's also, I think, why it's important that the post office has established a consultative council to properly look at all the issues around the way in which postmasters are consulted and involved in the big decisions about the future of the post office.
01:54Again, on the specific issues that her constituents face, if she thinks it would be useful, I'd be very happy to speak to her separately to understand a little bit more about the specific problems that she has.
