We received a petition asking: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to reconsider the decision to remove British Forces Post Offices from mainland europe.” Details of Petition: “Armed Forces have been advised that the BFPO facilities in mainland europe will be shut from September 2010. Personnel, and their families, deployed in europe currently enjoy the same postal rates as the UK. Withdrawal of this long established tradition will further erode personnel’s ability to communicate with their families in the UK and safe receipt of parcels etc through a secure network.” · Read the petition The Government remains fully committed to providing efficient and effective postal service to our armed forces, especially those serving on operations. The Ministry of Defence is making some changes to the way BFPO services operate in order to ensure we make best use of military manpower and to ensure the service is delivered in the most efficient way possible. The drawdown of the BFPO personnel supporting the UK military in the NATO headquarters in SHAPE, Brussels, Brunssum, Ramstein, Stavanger, Karup, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, Valencia and Norfolk Virginia should achieve a saving in excess of £1M per annum. The drawdown is scheduled to be completed by September 2010, by which time we aim to have in place alternative arrangements. These changes relate to the BFPO personnel supporting the UK military population in a limited number of non-operational locations and all in countries with efficient domestic postal services. In order to minimise the impact on personnel and their dependants stationed at affected locations, the BFPO numbers, which are useful for administrative purposes such as proving status, banking and internet shopping, will be retained. In addition, having taken into account the administrative disadvantages that the changes to the BFPO service could have on personnel and their dependants, some British Forces Post Office services will now be retained in a number of other NATO HQs. While Armed Forces personnel will no longer fulfil these functions and some counter services will cease from September 2010, the changes will enable civilians and, in some cases, Service dependants to take up local employment running a basic postal receipt and despatch facility. These changes will have no impact on postal services to troops deployed on operations. In particular, the Enduring Free Mail Service out to operational theatres will not be affected.
SaveBFPO - epetition response
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Wednesday, 20 January 2010
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