Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill [HL]

I want to speak to the Question whether Clause 15 shall stand part of the Bill. It deals with investigations relating to public post offices. Postwatch has provided an invaluable analysis of the problem the post office network faces not just in rural areas but in many urban deprived areas too, and it has made some important suggestions. It wants investment, tied to reform, in rural post offices to be extended beyond the current cut-off date of April 2008 and for that investment to include urban deprived branches. Postwatch makes a strong plea for all structural changes to be driven by customers’ needs and undertaken following local consultations with affected communities. It is keen on innovative schemes to enable post office services to be delivered more cost effectively, and it also believes that the Government should make more of their services available at post offices. After all, there is strong evidence that people trust post offices. Nearly 75 per cent of the population would rather deal with the Government via a post office branch than directly. Postwatch’s independent, clear view is extremely welcome and timely and it would be a retrograde step in consumer power if it were to be submerged in a less effective body as regards postal services. Postwatch has also reviewed the latest rural pilot schemes which focus on the impact on customers, and has made recommendations for improvements. It was, for example, concerned about customers having to wait for a mobile post office van to arrive in the depths of winter in one northerly rural location, and it found that all mobile vans had experienced technical difficulties at some time or other. One problem it highlighted was that faced by disabled customers when a ramp has to be operated by a lone van driver, which is quite a lengthy and time-consuming operation. Postwatch’s comments are clear and practical and we are not confident that its expertise will be continued if it loses its identity within a new National Consumer Council. What reassurance can the Minister give that this independent view will continue and that consumers, particularly the elderly and disabled, will continue to benefit from this detailed care in looking at all aspects of the consumers’ experience with the postal service?