Universal Postal Service

Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and Iain McKenzie

Thursday 17th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Katy Clark]

Indeed—he is both a friend and a comrade. I am delighted that he is here today. He represents a very similar constituency to mine.

Members in all parts of the House represent constituencies where we know it will never be profitable to deliver mail. That is why the universal service is so important. It is also important that we ensure that stamp prices are kept at a level that is affordable in all parts of the country.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we have seen this unfair competition before when the Conservatives were last in power and they privatised British Telecom? The other companies wanted the cities but not the rural areas, and now we see that again with Royal Mail.

[Katy Clark]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Perhaps we can enter into that debate on another occasion.

The Government are allowing TNT to cherry-pick the services in more profitable city areas, where its presence has already led to reductions of 14% to 15% in the use of Royal Mail.

--- Later in debate ---

[Katy Clark]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Of course, he has a very long track record and great expertise on these issues. If we do not take action now, then when the House considers this matter in a number of years’ time, there will be serious proposals for a reduction in the kind of service that people receive. We hope that the Government will take action now to make sure that we are not faced with that problem.

At the moment, Royal Mail still delivers 99% of mail in the UK. Our concern is that that situation could change very quickly given the current expansion plans of TNT, in particular, and perhaps other providers as well. Royal Mail itself estimates that TNT’s expansion strategy could result in a reduction of more than £200 million in Royal Mail revenue by 2017-18. The reality is that much of the most profitable section of the market, namely the business mail, is already handled by companies other than Royal Mail. Indeed, that has been the case for a considerable period. There has also been a significant reduction in the volume of letters over the past decade, which also continues to put pressure on the universal service obligation.

Royal Mail is subject to vigorous and rigorous performance standards. Its competitors are not subject to the same standards. There is also no requirement on competitors to report on service standards, as Ofcom says that service standards are driven by market forces. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) has pointed out, there are many concerns about the poor quality of service that customers receive from TNT in areas where it operates. There are also many concerns about the terms and conditions of the work force, which are considerably worse than those of the Royal Mail work force.

I believe that the motion is moderate. It calls on Ofcom to carry out a full review and to make proposals for regulation to create a level playing field in the postal services market. In particular, I ask Ofcom to consider whether a compensation fund could be established to support the provision of the universal service, which could be used to collect contributions from those that benefit from providing en-to-end service without the requirements of meeting the universal service. I also ask Ofcom to consider whether the general service conditions that currently apply specifically to Royal Mail alone should be extended to apply also to other operators.

We should also consider removing the requirement on Royal Mail to allow other operators to access its network. Hon. Members who visit the postal depots in their constituencies at Christmas will know that the work force have been raising concerns about that issue for many years. There is no doubt that that requirement to deliver mail for others has been a burden on Royal Mail.

[Mr McKenzie]

It is not only about the commitment to deliver that mail for others; often, Royal Mail also has to sort that mail before delivering it for them.

[Katy Clark]

My hon. Friend and his family have a great deal of experience in these matters, as do I. He is absolutely correct. I think that the situation is slightly less frustrating for the work force now, because the work used to be even more of a drain on Royal Mail and it made a considerable loss as a result. The financial arrangements have improved slightly, but this is very much an area that Ofcom needs to look at.

Postal Services (Rural Areas)

Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and Iain McKenzie

Monday 2nd September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Katy Clark]

I suspect that that topic could be the subject of a lengthy debate. I do not want to stray too far from the terms of the motion, but hon. Members on both sides of the House have outlined fully in previous debates what needs to be done to ensure that post offices have a viable and successful future. The Government have a role to play in that. I call on parties on all sides of the political debate to do what they can, because we all have areas where we are in power and can ensure that post offices get more work and receive more support.

The overall package of pay and conditions of not only TNT staff in London but those employed on a similar basis by other private companies, which have been able to operate in such a way only since the 2011 Act was passed, is significantly worse than that of the Royal Mail work force. Ofcom is responsible for regulating the sector. It has explicitly stated that it is regulating TNT, but it has done nothing whatsoever about TNT either cherry-picking services or undercutting wages and conditions.

The fear is that this is the face of future postal services. Although TNT and others might wish to operate in London and other profitable areas, they will not be interested in many other parts of the country, such as North Ayrshire and Arran. Of course, that means that Royal Mail will not be able to use the money it makes in profitable areas to subsidise—to cross-fertilise—services in less profitable areas so that it can provide a national service. The Government say that they support the universal service obligation, as the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) suggested in an intervention.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. She has been extremely generous, and I congratulate her on securing the debate. Did she, like me, see in the fly-on-the-wall documentary TNT’s habit of calling its delivery people back before they had finished their day’s work, thus returning mail to the depot, so that it took longer for people to receive it? That is an ongoing practice, and it is encouraged.

[Katy Clark]

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point.

If we proceed down this path, the pressures on future Governments and the management of Royal Mail will be to reduce requirements, as they will need to compete on a level playing field with other service providers. They will have to ensure that the universal service obligation is financially sustainable. If we go down the path suggested by the Government, loss-making rural services will be the most vulnerable and will be the first to go.

I appreciate the fact that the Government say that the universal service obligation is enshrined in law, but that covers only the bare minimum. Many of the requirements are set by Ofcom and can easily be changed. The regulator has recently consulted on user needs, including getting rid of first-class mail and thus next-day delivery, and moving from a six-day to a five-day service. That may not happen now, but if privatisation goes ahead it is more likely. The privately run PostNL in the Netherlands has put pressure on both the regulator and the Dutch Government regarding the universal service obligation and there are now plans to drop Monday deliveries.

There is no guarantee that the inter-business agreement that has been entered into between Royal Mail and the Post Office will continue or remain unchanged at the end of the 10-year period. I do not believe that the protections that we have been offered are adequate, so I am asking the Government to halt the sale of Royal Mail to give proper consideration to how rural services can be provided in the longer term, and to put in place stronger legal protections for the universal service obligation. I believe that cross-party support for the motion reflects a genuine concern about the issue, and I urge the Government to look at the issue in detail, and to provide a detailed response today.

Royal Mail

Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and Iain McKenzie

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Westminster Hall

[Katy Clark]

The Government claim that Ofcom will regulate entrants into the postal services market, but there has been no attempt to prevent TNT cherry-picking in this way or to regulate the use of zero-hours contracts and other poor contractual conditions.

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this very important debate. Does she agree that probably the first thing that the private sector would cut from the Royal Mail service is our unique Saturday delivery?

[Katy Clark]

I agree with my hon. Friend that that is indeed something that many people are fearful of.

Frankly, I say to the Minister that it is completely unacceptable to proceed to develop our postal services in this country in the way that TNT is operating at this time. We all know from our own experiences that if we allow sectors to offer poor conditions and poverty pay then it is the state and society as a whole that end up paying the price by subsidising bad employers. If the Minister is saying that his policy is not ideological, surely he must accept that allowing operators to come into the market in this way is highly damaging, both to the universal service obligation and to the public sector employer, which takes people on with better terms and conditions of employment. This cherry-picking of work is undermining the Royal Mail service and the universal service obligation.

If a privatised Royal Mail were to operate in a similar way, which we can only presume it would given that its main motive as a private company would be to maximise profits for its shareholders, then we can only expect it to try to cherry-pick, given that it has to compete with the TNTs of this world. This is incredibly bad news for our mail service.

Carers

Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and Iain McKenzie

Thursday 20th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Iain McKenzie (Inverclyde) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Backbench Business Committee and the right hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Burstow) on securing this important debate. It is a pleasure to contribute to it. I was delighted to be invited last week to Inverclyde’s national carers week event, the theme of which was “Prepared to Care?” A marvellous week of activities was organised to highlight caring, and special thanks must go to the secretary of the local carers forum in Inverclyde, Mrs Christina Boyd, who put together an interesting week of activities for the carers who attended.

On the day I attended, my local leisure company demonstrated keep fit with carers. It was announced as low-impact seated aerobics, and of course I took part. It is difficult to describe it, and perhaps difficult for Members to visualise it, without the accompanying music. Perhaps we should consider introducing it in the House, although I dare say that some members of the public think that we already have.

The focus should be on carers all year round, not just for one week. We need to recognise and support the work that they contribute, both on a personal level and to our community and society as a whole. That contribution has never been greater. The statistics on caring up and down the country are quite staggering. One in eight adults is a carer, which equates to about 6 million people. Every day, another 6,000 people take on a caring responsibility, equating to more than 2 million people a year. More than 1 million people care for more than one person. It has been estimated that carers save the economy £119 billion a year—an average of more than £18,000 per carer.

[Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on making those points. He will appreciate that many carers are older people. Has he, like me, been approached by constituents—women in particular—who are upset that they will lose their carer’s allowance when they reach retirement age? Does he agree that it would be appropriate to have some form of carer’s supplement for such people, not only in recognition of their contribution but to meet the additional costs involved in caring?

[Mr McKenzie]

I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. Many of my elderly and women constituents have approached me with that very big worry in mind. It is something that we need to look at, and that the Government need to respond to.

More than 3 million people juggle care with work, but the significant demands of caring mean that many carers are forced to give up work altogether. The main carers benefit is £58.45 for a minimum of 35 hours. That is the equivalent of £1.67 per hour, which falls far short of the national minimum wage. However, 1.25 million people provide more than 50 hours of care per week.

Carers’ health can also suffer. People providing high levels of care are twice as likely to fall sick. The fact that 625,000 people suffered mental and physical ill health last year as a direct consequence of the stress and physical demands of caring illustrates the true impact on carers’ health. Research by Carers Scotland found that almost half of carers with health problems reported that their conditions began after they started caring. Of those whose condition pre-dated their caring role, a quarter said that their condition had worsened since becoming a carer.

Caring clearly takes a huge toll on carers’ physical and mental health, and those not receiving respite are far more likely to suffer from mental health problems. The impact is often exacerbated by carers being unable to find time for medical check-ups or treatment for themselves, with two in five carers saying that they are forced to put off treatment because of their caring responsibilities. Research by Carers UK includes cases of carers discharging themselves from hospital because of an absence of alternative care.

I took questions from carers at the carers forum last Friday, and it was no surprise that their biggest worry at the moment is the bedroom tax. The Government should urgently review the impact that the charge is having on carers, because the vast majority of care in the UK is provided by family and friends. The work that family and relatives do so willingly is often ignored or goes unseen. Family carers are truly the unsung heroes of our communities. Social services and the NHS rely on carers’ willingness and ability to provide care, yet we as a society seem to put very little value on carers or recognise their commitment.

Social isolation and social exclusion are often remarked on by carers. They feel very isolated and report not having enough respite to have personal relationships of their own. They also report the stress and guilt associated with taking time off from their caring role. Many have not had even a day off in a whole year.

Many carers and carer households are often in poverty because carers have had to give up work or take on part-time work. They say that they could not otherwise fulfil their role as a carer. Of those in part-time work, many are in low-paid employment, and young carers are more often found in the NEET category—not in education, employment or training—or leave school with fewer qualifications.

What of the professional carers? According to a recent report on the plight of carers in the UK by the union Unison, the current system of home care is failing the people who receive it and the people who provide it. Unison describes the treatment of those receiving care and of workers as an outrage. It says private home care workers are being exploited—effectively paid below the minimum wage and given little or no training. Care workers are among the most poorly paid workers in the country; most are on the minimum wage, and there has been an increase in the number of zero-hours contracts. More than half of the care worker respondents to the recent survey reported that their terms and conditions had worsened over the last year.

What about the level of training? Can we say it is adequate? Well, 41% of care staff are not given specialist training to deal with their clients’ specific medical needs, such as dementia and stroke-related conditions. Standards and training are insufficiently regulated. We should compare this with Germany, where carers require several years’ training.

What of the care provided by our local authorities? Local authorities are being squeezed at this time of austerity and having made all the efficiency savings they can, they are now in a dilemma—at least they are in Scotland. They have to make very hard decisions and have to meet the challenge of delivering core services such as care with reduced funding while maintaining the same level of quality. I fear that things will only get more difficult for local government to continue to deliver high-quality care.

In conclusion, we owe the millions of carers out there the respect and all the assistance we can give them because some day we may just find ourselves performing a caring role or being cared for ourselves.

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Baroness Clark of Kilwinning and Iain McKenzie

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Katy Clark]

That was done as part of a range of measures. We have been talking about a package of measures today, and what we know is that pensioners will be disproportionately affected by the range of measures that this Government are steamrollering through. I will return to that later, but the hon. Gentleman’s point also highlights the fact that the changes proposed at that time treated everybody, of all ages, in the same way. In this debate we are trying to focus on the impact on pensioners of the freeze in what is an age-related benefit. We have heard a number of contributions that have highlighted how pensioners are struggling as a result of many of the Government’s policies, as well as the economic situation we are in, which the Government are not trying to alleviate.

My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) put this debate in the bigger picture by highlighting the fact that the £3 billion that the Government will save as a result of the proposed change will be used to help some of the richest people in the country. The big picture is that the richest in this country are getting richer, at a time when the living standards of those on modest or low incomes are going down. We have heard a number of attacks on the last Labour Government in this debate, but the reality is that the figures show that the living standards of those on low, modest or middle incomes went up. There was also an increase in the living standards of the wealthiest in the country, but we are now seeing the living standards of ordinary people—people on low or modest incomes—plummeting, while at the same time we see huge and escalating increases in the incomes of rich individuals and many corporations.

[Mr McKenzie]

We hear much from Government Members about the message that this Budget is sending the world—that Britain is open for business, and so on. What message does my hon. Friend think the Budget is sending to our pensioners up and down the country, and particularly those on incomes that they have worked hard for, by setting money aside and preparing for their pensions?

[Katy Clark]

The word “dignity” has been used a number of times in this debate. It is an important word, particularly given the proposed change, which has been put forward at short notice. We have had debates about pensioner income over many years in this place. We have heard a number of proposals, from parties in all parts of the House, that would change the financial position of those reaching retirement. However, a common theme has been the importance of giving as much notice as possible of any change, particularly when dealing with people’s incomes in retirement, so that people can make the changes necessary to cope with the changing world.

One of the problems with the proposed change, which will come into effect in 2013-14, is that it represents not a minor or technical change, as many Government Members have said, but quite a substantial drop in income at short notice for people on modest or medium incomes. My hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Graeme Morrice) highlighted the impact on those who turn 65 in 2013-14, who could lose £323 a year, which represents a significant amount, not a technical change. Therefore, to answer my hon. Friend the Member for Inverclyde (Mr McKenzie), people in those income brackets will be very disappointed by the change. That is one reason I have highlighted the fact that the measure was not in the manifesto. If the Government think that it is an important part of their long-term pension reform, it should have been in the manifesto. It should have been consulted on and thought through, and a great deal more notice should have been given to the individuals affected.