No reform for Post Office. No explanation for £100m exceptional charge in interim results.
THE Post Office is to make no attempt to reform its heavily criticised accounts when it becomes a plc next month, despite government promises that the organisation will face greater financial discipline.
In a response to a call from the Trade and Industry Select Committee for clear financial results for each operation, the Post Office said that a detailed breakdown of its figures would be “at best misleading, and at worst commercially damaging”.
The Government told the committee that the Post Office would be required to publish separate accounts for the regulator. However, it emphasised: “These will be submitted to the Postal Services Commission who will treat them as commercially confidential.”
The move was condemned by the Conservatives as a further example of the “culture of secrecy in the Post Office”. David Heathcoat-Amory, Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, said: “This is not at all satisfactory. We need to know whether the monopoly operations are subsidising those which face competition. The Post Office’s accounts are getting less and less helpful as an indicator of how the businesses are doing.”
Last month the Post Office, which is to be renamed Consignia, refused to explain a £100 million exceptional charge in its interim results.
