Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help tackle postcode-based delivery surcharges that misclassify accessible regions such as Perthshire as (a) remote and (b) offshore.

The postcode is a routing instruction used by Royal Mail to sort and deliver mail quickly and accurately. Individual addresses are therefore not always a geographically accurate description of where a property is located.

Royal Mail updates the Postcode Address File daily and a Code of Practice sets out the process for change requests. The Code of Practice is available on Royal Mail’s website: www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/PAF-Code-of-Practice-211118.pdf.

Any concerns about the way in which a third party, including retailers and other postal operators, is using a postcode or applying a surcharge should be taken up directly with the company or organisation involved.