• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

The post office I was demonstrating outside is a profitable post office so when the Post Office says that one of its overriding concerns is to save money it does seem to me that the consultation is rather a sham if some of those post offices are profitable, as the one I was in front of this morning. Have you taken legal advice as yet as to the validity of a judicial review or is that something you will be doing?

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

OK, so you don't. He has no green credentials then?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Then why suspend him?

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

You suspend someone who has not misconducted himself. Amazing.

• Question by: Jennette Arnold OBE
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

Even the free marketeer over there. I just have to say that there is a hole in the consultation period that I identified yesterday when I was talking to local councillor colleagues. I have 15 post offices that are threatened and I think it was only two of those councillors who knew. The Post Office has not written or informed local councillors about what is happening in their patch, which just shows you the level of understanding about consultation that is going on here. I doubt if they have consulted an organisation like the London Older People's Strategy Group, the...

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

What about Lee Jasper's misconduct or not?

• Question by: Sally Hamwee
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

I hope you are getting advice on the substance of it as well because a judicial review could only have the result of extending the consultation period and it is the real result that everybody wants.

• Question by: Bob Neill
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

I assume that suspension actually ought to stem from some evidence of misconduct and I would like to know what the evidence of misconduct is? If so, it would be very helpful to have it on the record. I was grateful to hear your support for post office closures. A lot of us would have been much more impressed if you had made the same support in relation to the previous round of post office closures which closed a number of Crown Post Offices, and the round before that about two years ago; both of which you were remarkably silent...

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

That sounds slightly as if you are sitting on the fence, because you are saying you want to streamline these procedures but at the same time we have to keep the safeguards. If you are saying that then clearly you understand that this could have a detrimental impact on some local communities. Are you going to be quite vigorous in lobbying the Government for really good safeguards and, if you are going to, why not keep the ones we have at the moment?

• Question by: Jenny Jones
• Meeting date: 20 February 2008

In some ways that is true but, at the same time, these safeguards were brought in because local ethnic minority communities perceived that they were stopped disproportionately. When we had these safeguards brought in it was obvious that they were absolutely right. It might be that these safeguards have perhaps redressed the balance slightly. What is to stop a streamlined system allowing further abuse, ie that ethnic minority communities get stopped much more again?