Beith asks for evidence on Post Office closure decision under Freedom of Information

4.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 24th Oct 2008

Failure of Post Office officials to provide information about how they reached their decisions on proposed closures has led Sir Alan Beith, the Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick, to demand documents under the Freedom of Information legislation.

A concerned constituent asked Post Office for a copy of all the submissions they received about the Norham Post Office under Freedom of Information rules and when he received these he was very surprised that there was no copy of a submission from Alan Beith or from Berwick Borough council. He immediately contacted the MP's office and was sent a copy of Sir Alan Beith's submission. He then confirmed that this had not been sent out to him by Post Office Limited.

Sir Alan Beith MP and Dr Clare Mills held a meeting with Adrian Wales and Matt Silcock, the Post Office managers in charge of the closures scheme, on Monday 20 October and raised concerns about the apparent loss of documents despite the issuing of a receipt for Sir Alan Beith's submission. They also pointed to comments in the Decision Booklet issued by Post Office which indicated that some submissions had not been taken into account.

Now, despite assurances from Mr Wales and Mr Silcock that this would be provided urgently, no information has been given to demonstrate that the consultation has been carried out correctly.

Sir Alan Beith said

"I specifically asked Mr Wales and Mr Silcock how the thousands of submissions sent in to them were handled. They told me that submissions were collated and a summary document created, which was then used by Mr Wales as the basis for his decision on whether each specific post office would remain open, be replaced with outreach services including the mobile service, or closed.

"I asked for a copy of this summary document and was assured it would be sent to me, yet despite reminders we have not received this information.

"I am very concerned that the decision making process has not taken account of all the submissions made. I will continue to push for the information I need to be reassured that the process was handled correctly.

"It is now up to Post Office Limited to prove that their procedures were effective."