In My View
Posted by Robert Walter, MP for North Dorset, at 16:23, Thu 25 September 2008:
IN MY VIEW
There is only one glint of possible good news in this week’s confirmation of the closure of several sub post offices in Dorset. The decision to rethink the closure at Blandford Camp is sensible and fair. I have made the point to the closure team that at a time when our armed forces are fighting in two remote overseas campaigns, it is simply not the way to treat their families who need to send parcels and keep in touch.
There is also a little good news at Chettle, where the closure team are willing to look again at the proposed outreach service. Wherever the substitution of a visiting van is proposed it can only be a shadow of the former post office service. It is also clear that if these vans are not used they too will disappear in a short space of time.
At the end of the day this is a seriously flawed Government policy. We should have been looking to expand this business with 14,000 outlets across the country and freeing up our sub postmasters as key players in the local economy. The Government should have been looking to rewrite sub postmasters’ contracts; allowing them to provide a greater range of products and services, including private mail services, creating viable and sustainable local businesses.
The long-term future of the network could be best secured if the Post Office is opened up to new markets and new customers. We should be looking to using Post Offices as a sort of Government GP service. This would be a scheme whereby people who have concerns about a range of Government services can use their local Post Office as a simple information point. Trained staff in Post Offices could then advise on a range of matters, including tax returns, pension entitlements, the opening hours of local pharmacies, how to apply for a disabled parking badge and the like.
Not satisfied with this closure programme there is still a lot of campaigning to be done on the Post Office Card Account. I have repeatedly called on the Government to review their earlier decision to abolish the Post Office card account. This scheme is hugely important to those people who do not have bank accounts and around one million of our most vulnerable people cannot get a bank account. The Government should now work to make the card account more flexible financial tool with much greater functionality.
North Dorset District Council has led the way in using the post office for people to pay their council tax. But we should encourage all local councils to see what services they could provide though Post Offices and whether they could use the Post Office network in their area to better engage with local residents. I believe there is great scope for many Post Offices to be used as a ‘Council Counter’ to offer these kinds of services, but time and again they have been held back by this Government.
If we do not use the remaining post offices, they too will be threatened. Many post offices are also local shops and they depend on all us to use them. It really is a case of “use it or lose it”.
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