Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions she has had with the Post Office of the potential impact of delayed post on residents in Slough constituency.

The delivery of post is the responsibility of Royal Mail as the designated universal service provider.

It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards. The regulator fined the business £5.6m for failing to meet its service delivery targets in 2022-23 and is meeting Royal Mail regularly to ensure service issues are addressed as a matter of urgency.

Whilst the Government does not have a formal role in Royal Mail’s operational decisions, I recently met the CEO of its parent company to raise concerns about Royal Mail’s performance and I will continue to raise the issue if performance does not improve.