Securing the Post Office network in the digital age

[The BFO]

http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business ... e-strategy
It appears to me that a lot of change is planned by HM Government/Post Office Ltd; Here are the key points from my point of view as a Crown Office bod.
The full Policy Statement is available as a PDF on the above link.
I quote:

• We recognise that the Post Office is more than a commercial entity and serves a distinct social purpose
• There will be no programme of post office closures under this Government.
• We want to see the Post Office become a genuine Front Office for Government at both the national and local level
• We will create the opportunity for a mutually owned Post Office
• This will mean a major modernisation to address the underlying economics of the network
• We will adopt a different approach to the network from the previous Government. We will maintain the network at around its current size, making sure that communities do not face further mass closures. Alongside this we will provide support for Post Office management to address the fundamental economic and customer service challenges at the heart of the current Post Office network models
• We stand in queues for too long
• Post Office network needs to change and its renewal must be driven by what customers really want
• The new network will see refreshed branches, sometimes in new locations, and agents rewarded for focussing on the customer, with new contractual arrangements gradually phased in across the network
• Other than a recent limited modernisation and improvement programme for the small network of 373 Crown Post Offices, there has been no structured investment in the larger end of the network for the past 13 years. Many of the existing Main post offices are no longer fit-for-purpose, and do not deliver the standard of service that the public expect. Post Office Ltd will make significant investments in Main post offices in partnership with those who own the businesses to bring them up-to-date, and to meet these higher standards of service
• The Crown network is currently loss making, and this is not acceptable. Post Office Ltd is committed to eradicating these losses over the next four years
• The funding will enable Post Office Ltd to do much more than simply maintain the status quo. By the end of this Parliament, we have asked Post Office Ltd to have:
• • About 4,000 Main Post Offices in town and city centres across the country – this alone is a larger network than that of Tesco;
• • Converted about 2,000 sub post offices to the new ‘Post Office Local’ model, ensuring the longer opening hours demanded by mail and bill payment customers;
• • Expanded online and introduced a range of IT improvements to make transactions quicker and simpler; and
• • Eradicated the losses made by its directly managed Crown post office network.
• Parliament will need to approve all of these payments. We will seek in the coming weeks to raise the ceiling for the level of subsidy the Government can pay to Post Office Ltd in any one year from £160 million to £500 million to provide flexibility in how the Government can support the network. We will also seek the necessary State Aid approval from the European Commission
• Revenues from postal services will remain a mainstay of the Post Office
• We are clear that any move to mutual ownership must put the views of sub postmasters, employees, business partners and customers first. It will not be imposed on the Post Office from the top down

[PO1]

So everything's pointing towards a Spar/Co-Op/Smiths/Tesco/Asda run ex Crown network then.