Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions the Government has had with Ofcom on the financial sustainability of (a) Royal Mail and (b) the Universal Postal Services Order.

Ministers and officials meet with Ofcom regularly to discuss a range of issues in relation to its role as the regulatory authority for the postal sector, including the provision of the universal service obligation.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator for the postal sector, has a duty to ensure the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient universal postal service. Ofcom publishes an annual report summarising its monitoring programme on its website (www.ofcom.org.uk/postal-services/information-for-the-postal-industry/monitoring_reports).