Whether it has any plans to increase utilisation of the rural Post Office network by promoting additional over the counter services, for ex…

The Post Office and postal services are reserved matters for the UK Government, although the Executive recognises the important role which post offices play in communities across Scotland, and in particular in rural areas.The Executive is keen to encourage innovative approaches to service provision in rural areas, including post office services, and has asked a sub-group of the Scottish National Rural Partnership to investigate this issue. I expect to receive the group's report shortly.I am aware that the Post Office is continually seeking to identify new opportunities to increase the number of transactions across its counters, and is already offering a number of additional services, including banking services. We welcome the progress being made, and encourage the Post Office to continue its efforts to attract additional business. With regard to the sale of travel tickets, while it is for transport operators to decide who should act as ticket agents, the Executive would welcome any initiatives which make the advance purchase of travel tickets more readily available.