Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure Royal Mail improves first- and second‑class delivery performance following Ofcom’s recent findings and fines.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for setting and enforcing Royal Mail’s service standards. I met senior officials from Ofcom on 11 March.

I met Royal Mail’s CEO, Alistair Cochrane, on 3 February to press him on making demonstrable improvements to service levels as a matter of urgency. I will continue to raise concerns with Royal Mail if the company’s quality of service does not improve.

Royal Mail has publicly committed to publishing a detailed deployment and quality of service improvement plan as soon as possible following the conclusion of its discussions with the Communication Workers Union.