Cable quizzes McFadden on Post Offices

11.50.08am GMT Fri 29th Feb 2008

[Feb 28]: Vincent Cable: Following the Secretary of State's emphasis on commercial reality in the Post Office, . .

. . will he explain why commercially successful, profitable branches are being closed in order to meet a national quota based on generous incentives through the redundancy package?

Patrick McFadden (Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform): The judgment of the commercial success or profitability of any branch has to take into account a number of factors. These include not only the payments made to the sub-postmaster but the central costs borne by Post Office Ltd for IT support and the secure and complex cash handling and cash delivery processes. Taking all those factors into account, three out of four post offices in the present network are run at a cost to Post Office Ltd rather than a profit. [theyworkforyou.com]