Royal Mail and the Post Office

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I was certainly pleased with the initiative proposed by Essex county council for the council and post offices to share services. Unfortunately, in my area, the proposal was made far too late to allow the council or community groups to put together a proper business plan. In the case of my hon. Friend's constituency, I hope that the Post Office will give Fife council time to put together a proper business plan. One way to secure the future of rural post offices is by sharing services with councils, community groups and other public bodies. The key to securing the future of post offices is the card account. The Government must specify that whoever wins the tender must have a rural network, but we also need to develop the post office card account. Clearly, it has limited functionality at present, but it ought to be developed into a bank account with a full range of banking products. That is the road that France, Germany, Italy and other European countries have followed. It would allow small rural post offices to become profitable and to survive, and it would be of great benefit to people on low incomes who are often financially excluded. I urge the Government to develop the post office card account into a proper bank account with full banking facilities, and to ensure that the contract for paying benefits and pensions specifies a rural network. I shall speak briefly about parcels. One of the complaints that I receive regularly from people in my constituency is that when they give their postcode when placing an order for something that has to be delivered as a parcel, they are directed to small print saying that an extra amount is charged for deliveries to the highlands and islands. That causes great consternation. Clearly, the private parcel delivery companies are not keen on delivering to remote areas. Part of the problem is that they do not have depots in remote areas where parcels can be left if the people to whom they are being delivered are out. The Government and the review panel should consider allowing small sub-post offices to retain parcels that parcel delivery companies cannot deliver because someone is out. At present, under the contract that small sub-post offices have with the Post Office, a parcel delivered by a private delivery company cannot be held anywhere in the shop. Even if the post office is in a corner of a shop, it is still against the contract to leave the parcel anywhere in the shop. Often, the post office-cum-shop is the only shop in the village, which means that if a parcel is being delivered to somebody in the village, there is often nowhere for it to be left if the person is out. I would like the Government, the regulator and the review panel to consider whether we could allow post offices to store parcels on behalf of private companies as well as Royal Mail. Royal Mail and the Post Office are clearly in a critical condition, as the report demonstrates, but I still believe that with the right action they could be rescued. I conclude with three questions for the Minister. First, will he assure us that the universal service obligation will continue and will not be watered down in any way? Secondly, will he assure us that the present round of post office closures is the last, and that the remaining network has a secure future? Thirdly, the interim report says that the present set-up is unsustainable, so what action do the Government intend to take to ensure that Royal Mail services are sustainable in the long term?