Clause 16
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
9:15 am
Susan Kramer (Shadow Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, Trade & Industry; Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
I would like to explore much further the transition arrangements, as it were, that have been described, and establish whether it is possible to put in place transition arrangements that will be robust enough to deal with the kind of pace of closure that is being proposed for the Post Office network. Some 2,500 closures are proposed, the process will start in the summer and extend over two years and that figure does not include voluntary closures, which presumably will take place at the same time, particularly if we continue to have the withdrawal of business from our post offices, which makes it less and less economic for individuals to remain as postmasters and sub-postmistresses.
The Minister mentioned the regional structure that is so critically important to the way that Postwatch currently responds to consumer needs and to issues related to post office closures. As I understand it, I think that the nine regional committee members, who I believe are all Government appointees, will in effect lose their authority somewhere in the process of this transition. I wonder if the Minister can help us to understand how there will be some seamless flow of authority when these various regional committees are playing such a key role in providing advice. I understand that the consultation period for the closure of a post office will be something like six weeks, which is a very short period. If that period happens to coincide with the change in authority and personnel, perhaps the Minister could give us some idea about how that change will not disrupt the underlying purpose of the role that Postwatch has played, which is the role that the National Consumer Council intends to play in future.
I think that it is necessary to put on record a great deal of concern about the fact that transition is something that is easy to describe in theory, but very difficult to implement, particularly at a time when a very significant piece of work is being undertaken that is dependent on a part of the structure that is not core to the activity of the National Consumer Council. The principle that the Minister has described to us is of a national council rather than a regional one. It provides the opportunity to create regional, frequently ad hoc, committees, but that is not core to the structure or to the functioning of the organisation. We need to put on record that we are concerned about that.
All the discussions have focused on the 2,500 post offices that we assume will be closed with compensation under a forced closure programme. There has been very little discussion of voluntary closures, however, which will surely happen at a fairly rapid pace at the same time. There is no clarity as to whether those post offices will be replaced or what will replace them. We do not know whether they will be left closed provided that that does not disrupt the access criteria. How on earth will the new organisation cope with that process during the transition?