MP angry as Post Office officials lose protest
Nov 26 2008 by Brian Daniel, The Journal
BUNGLING Post Office officials lost a North MP’s 14-page response to proposed branch closures.
Sir Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick, has demanded that the Secretary of State intervene after it emerged that his response to the proposed closure of branches in his constituency was misfiled and not taken into account when decisions were made.
Sir Alan is calling for the whole closure process to be put on hold until a review of Post Office Ltd’s competency to conduct the review process is carried out – after deeming its handling of the situation simply appalling.
He is also threatening to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner after not receiving a response to a Freedom of Information request for details of all correspondence submitted in relation to closures in the Berwick area, within the 20-day timeframe.
Sir Alan, who sent his response by email, said last night: “When Post Office Ltd announced its decisions for our area, I was extremely sceptical that all the material submitted could have been collated, read and assessed in the very short space of time between the end of the consultation and the decision being announced.
“We now know that at least one submission – mine – was ‘misfiled’.
“I will compare the submissions held by Post Office Ltd with the copies which people were kind enough to send to me, to see if there are any others which may have been misfiled.
“The failure to supply straightforward documents within 20 working days further undermines any shred of confidence left in the handling of this consultation process by Post Office Ltd.
“The handling of this process has been simply appalling and I have asked the Secretary of State to intervene and put all proposals for our area on hold until the competency of Post Office Ltd to carry out its own decision-making on the future of the network can be reviewed.”
Among the branches Sir Alan mentioned in his letter were Norham, North Sunderland and Milfield.
In September the Post Office announced that it was to close 80 branches across the region as part of Government cost-cutting measures.
Last night, Post Office Ltd said the oversight on Sir Alan’s correspondence was a very rare example of a problem occurring in the closure programme.
A spokeswoman added: “In respect of the request made under the Freedom of Information Act, it extended beyond simply the consultation responses received. It has taken Post Office Ltd some time to identify and collate this material. Post Office Ltd has already provided Sir Alan with copies of the approximately 600 consultation responses received.”
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