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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the profitability of the services carried out by Royal Mail Group under the Universal Service Obligation.

The Postal Services Act 2011 designates Ofcom as the independent regulator for the postal sector with a duty to ensure the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient universal postal service.

Under its duty, Ofcom monitors the service provided by Royal Mail and its financial performance and publishes its findings in an Annual Monitoring Update. This is focused on Royal Mail’s ‘Reported Business’, which includes all universal services, as well as other services which are delivered over the universal service network, namely access products and retail bulk mail.

Ofcom’s Annual Monitoring Update 2021-22 is available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/postal-services/information-for-the-postal-industry/monitoring_reports.