New Petitions

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak in support of the petition, which was occasioned by the proposed closure of Culduthel post office, which is in my constituency. I am sad to say that the post office itself was closed on 6 September, although I hasten to add that the shop that included the post office is still open for trading, and I am sure that Mr and Mrs Mackenzie would be anxious for me to point that out.The petition raises general principles that, notwithstanding the closure of that particular sub-post office in Inverness city, are worthy of consideration by Parliament, not least because other members in towns and cities throughout Scotland will, I am sure, face the same situation. The Post Office has embarked on a process that it calls, rather euphemistically, network reinvention, which involves closing masses of post offices in towns and cities.The wording of the petition was chosen with the assistance of the committee's excellent clerk, who identified the general principles. Back in the first session of Parliament, I met Sandy Stephen, who, along with Julie Morrison, is in charge of the process, and I asked whether he could explain exactly what criteria the Post Office applies in deciding whether a sub-post office should remain open or be closed. We are talking here only about urban or city sub-post offices; there are separate rules regarding rural sub-post offices.While Mr Stephen and his colleague were extremely pleasant and courteous, I was left unclear as to exactly what criteria applied. One criticism that could be made of the existing process is that it is driven by sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses applying for a closure. It is not driven by the needs of a city or town to have a reasonable presence of sub-post offices throughout all areas of the town. That means, at least in theory, that if all the sub-post offices in the south side of Glasgow, for example, were the subject of an application for closure by the sub-postmaster, the whole of the south of Glasgow could be left without any post offices. That seems to me to be wrong.The point of the petition is to elicit the criteria that are applied and to ask how many proposed closures have been approved and how many have been disapproved. I understand that, of around 40 Scottish applications, none has been reprieved thus far.In addition, in the documentation the Post Office stated that it had"undertaken a complete review of this and other branches in the area."I asked that that review be made public but, while some information was imparted to me about it, the Post Office was reluctant, if not unwilling, to make public its review. Surely that should be a public document?I thank the committee for its indulgence. In conclusion, perhaps I could suggest how the petition might be pursued. I have supplied the clerk with the signatures on the petition—121 of them—plus letters plus the details of Mr Sandy Stephen. It might be appropriate if the committee were to agree to write to Mr Stephen, sending a copy of the Official Report, and asking whether the Post Office will clarify the criteria and answer the other questions that have been put by me in the petition. I am sure that we are all aware of the vital role that sub-post offices play, in particular for the elderly and young parents with children who need local access to the services that sub-post offices have traditionally supplied.

I have been concerned about the amount of closures in the Glasgow area. I know that committee members will speak for their areas also. The only indication that we have of the closure of a sub-post office is when the sub-postmaster says, "This post office will close. What are your ideas?" and when he gives us information on the percentage of people who use it. We are not given an indication months before of which post offices or sub-post offices are to be closed down. In the area that I represent, closures have taken place in areas where there are a lot of elderly people. Perhaps the closure of post offices is something to do with the fact that the Post Office wants elderly people to receive their pensions through banks.Some of Fergus Ewing's comments and ideas have merit, such as requesting updates on what is happening, the number of closures so far, and the projected number of closures. I would like to see the closure plans, rather than being told only six weeks or two weeks in advance. There would be merit in our writing to the Post Office to ask about its plans. Whether closures take place in Inverness, Glasgow or wherever, we should be concerned, in particular because the Post Office is encouraging pensioners to access their pensions through banks. Everyone who was at the meeting last week with the Communication Workers Union had great concerns about obstacles being put in people's way in obtaining a Post Office card. Perhaps there is something more to this issue than the eye can see. I would like to take on board some of Fergus Ewing's recommendations, such as writing to the Post Office.

Carolyn Leckie made an excellent point and I endorse her remarks. I am very pleased with the committee's response and happy with the convener's suggestion. I will now depart until the seagulls arrive.