Postal Services

(asked on 20th November 2014) - View Source

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received form private sector mail delivery companies on delivering mail in urban areas of the UK; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such proposals on the Royal Mail's ability to deliver Universal Service Provision in rural areas.


Answered by
Jo Swinson Portrait
Jo Swinson
This question was answered on 25th November 2014

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Ministers and officials meet intermittently with representatives of UK postal companies, though there have not been any recent representations from such operators specifically on the issue of delivering mail in urban areas of the country.

Under the Postal Services Act 2011, Parliament gave Ofcom as an experienced and independent regulator the primary statutory duty to secure the provision of the universal service to all addresses – urban and rural – in the UK. Ofcom maintains an ongoing monitoring regime which tracks Royal Mail’s performance and any actual or potential market impacts on the provision of the universal service. Ofcom has said that their own evidence clearly shows that the service is not currently under threat.

Ofcom has been reviewing the case which Royal Mail has been making about the potential impact of competition on their ability to provide that service and is expected to make a statement very shortly. More information about Ofcom’s regulatory regime can be found on its website (www.ofcom.org.uk/).

The BIS Select Committee is currently carrying out an inquiry into postal competition in the UK and postal operators have recently submitted their evidence on market competition to inform the inquiry. Copies of written submissions can be found on Parliament’s website (http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/parliament-2010/competition-in-the-uk-postal-sector-/?type=Written#pnlPublicationFilter).

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