Local MP Welcomes Post Office Contract Award
Thursday 15 November 2012
The
Department of Transport has awarded the Post Office an important framework
contract to provide services on behalf of the DVLA. It has also been named by the Department for
Work and Pensions as a provider for its new framework contract to offer
identity assurance services.
The decision
to award theses contracts come on the back of a huge public campaign to retain
the DVLA contract with the Post Office.
Commenting on
the decision, Banff & Buchan
MP Eilidh Whiteford, said:
“These announcements are fantastic
news for our local communities and will go some way to securing the future
viability of the Post Office. Many of
the Post Office key services have been stripped back over recent years and this
has been deeply worrying to those of us in rural communities, who count on the
Post Office to deliver an appropriate level of service.
“Both of
these announcements highlight the ability of the Post Office to compete with
other providers, but they are also testament to the strength of public feeling
to retain and build on these key services. The SNP has continually highlighted that the
Post Office – as well as being a viable business – is often the focal point in
our communities, providing rural folk with the resources and services they
require.
“I have
received hundreds of campaign cards from across Banff & Buchan by folk
worried that further loss to Post Office services would be the death knell of
our local offices, as well as the communities which serve them. I am very happy
that this shadow has now been lifted and that, for once, sense has prevailed.”