Royal Mail and the Post Office

I am saying that the money has not been able to produce the restructuring that the Government said it would achieve, so we need to consider different formulas. We certainly need to consider whether we should divide the role of the Post Office from that of Royal Mail to put much greater clarity into their financial arrangements than is currently the case. We know that the Post Office and Royal Mail are coming back for more funding so we need to know how the Minister plans to respond. Will the Minister also clarify the confusion that is emerging about the future of the Saturday delivery? That issue has been covered in the press in the past few days. Last week, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Saturday delivery was under threat. Postcomm immediately responded that the story had ““no substance whatsoever””. However, Postcomm's chief executive, Sarah Chambers, said:"““There are other ways to deliver a service to customers in far-flung areas than insisting on a six-day-a-week service.””" What precisely was she referring to? What is being considered? It appears to us that there is a real attempt to chip away at the universal service obligation. The Government must have an understanding of what Postcomm is considering and what Royal Mail wants in that regard. In the course of a television interview, the Minister said, ““We are absolutely committed to the universal service obligation.”” However, he would not talk further about the threat to the Saturday service. We need to know what is happening. We all know that Royal Mail faces what may be the biggest threat in its history. The delivery service—the service our constituents rightly expect—is under threat, but at the heart of the situation is the Government. They cannot just say, ““These are other organisations and we do not know what's going on.”” We expect some answers and we expect them from the Minister this afternoon.