Royal Mail and the Post Office

The contract specifies that whoever wins it has to have 10,000 outlets throughout the country. Some of the Post Office's competitor networks may take issue with the hon. Gentleman's description, but the contract stipulates 10,000 outlets. That decision will be taken later this year. My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) spoke of his guilt at serving on the Committee that considered the Postal Services Act 2000, which initiated the present regime. I was interested to hear him say that, because the Act enshrines the universal service obligation in legislation. The Government are committed to the continuation of the USO and to a one-price-anywhere service throughout the UK. I know that is important to our constituents. I have not gone into all the ins and outs of post office closures today; I have concentrated on the mails market. I end by saying that the third stage of the Hooper review will be to report later this year on how to maintain the USO in the changed mails market.