Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 14 December 2016.
There is a risk for many communities, however, because we’re already losing the banks—as has already been mentioned a number of times in the Assembly recently—and the solution for that, for a number of bodies, including the Government here and the Government in Westminster, is using the post office network to deal with that loss. Now, there are two problems there. There’s the problem that Llyr Gruffydd has just outlined, but the second problem is that not all post offices, particularly in our smaller towns, can cope with businesses. What we need is a safe window to deal with the funds paid into post offices by businesses, and if we lose our banks, then post offices do have to handle rural businesses and businesses in rural towns. There’s a good example of this happening in Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the post office has moved, but in moving it has safeguarded the ability to deal with small businesses. That’s how we want to see things developing. Although it’s not devolved, it’s extremely important that this Government does put pressure on the Westminster Government to ensure that that provision is available in rural Wales, and that it’s adequate, not only for individuals but also for small businesses, too.