Postal Bill clears Lords

21st May 09 : POSTMAN

The Government's Postal Services Bill has cleared its third reading in the House of Lords and will now pass to the House of Commons.

In the Commons 180 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 428 opposing the privatisation of Royal Mail of which 148 are Labour.

The Lords have also ignored that 75% of people now oppose the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, with 60% of people saying it needs to be reformed but must remain in the public sector according to an ICM poll.

Lord Mandelson

"This is an important landmark in the Bill's passage through Parliament. The legislation has emerged stronger following the numerous debates in the Lords and the constructive and helpful input from Peers."

"The Government remains convinced that the huge challenges facing Royal Mail must be addressed by a comprehensive package of reform. Letter volumes are expected to fall by as much as 10% every year as people turn to email and other forms of communication, with each 1% fall costing the company around £70m. The company is also technically insolvent due to its volatile multi-billion pound pension deficit."

"Royal Mail is facing decline and it would be a dereliction of duty if we did not take action to secure the company's future."

The Postal Services Bill has been strengthened by a number of amendments which the Government made in response to the constructive debate in the Lords. These include:

* Clarity that the legislation allows an employee share scheme to be created, provided that Royal Mail remains publicly owned. The Government believes it is important that employees have a serious stake in Royal Mail's success. It wants to discuss this issue with any partner before deciding how best to incentivise performance and deliver value for money.

* A new requirement for the Post Office to produce an annual report on the breadth and accessibility of the Post Office network. This will ensure that transparent information about how accessible the network is, in particular to small businesses, rural communities, the elderly, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, is published every year.

* The Secretary of State must report to Parliament on any sale of shares in Royal Mail. The report would be made after any agreement had been signed and set out the objectives and criteria for any sale and if they have been achieved, and the principal terms.

* A new requirement for Ofcom to report on the cost of fulfilling the universal service obligation (collecting and delivering mail six days per week at a uniform price). Ofcom will also have powers to ensure that the price other postal operators are charged by Royal Mail to access its network, including delivery over the final mile, properly reflect those costs.

BERR

Billy Hayes

"Royal Mail needs to be modernised not privatised."

Regarding the poll: "The public have got it right, the business needs to be reformed within the public sector giving it the freedom to invest but keeping it as a public service; it makes organisational, financial and now clearly political sense."

"The CWU will work with the Government, the management and the public to ensure that Royal Mail is modernised as a public organisation to serve the nation's interest."

cwu.org

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