§ 13. Brigadier Medlicottasked the Assistant Postmaster-General whether, in view of the increase which has taken place in the cost of providing the postal and telegraph services, arrangements will now be made for all Government Departments to pay for these services at the same rates as are charged to business subscribers.
§ Mr. GammansI think my hon. and gallant Friend is under some misapprehension. The Post Office receives a credit in its commercial accounts for all services provided for Government Departments, the postal services being credited at cost and telephone and telegraph services at the same rates as those charged to the general public.
As my noble Friend announced on 26th June last in another place, as from 1st April next, certain Departments—the Ministry of Defence, the three Service Departments, the Ministry of Supply and the Treasury—will pay for telephone and telegraph services in cash, but whether Departments pay cash or not does not, in fact, affect the commercial accounts which the Post Office presents to Parliament.
§ Brigadier RaynerWould it not be a very good thing if practically all Government offices were self-accounting in these two respects?
§ Mr. GammansThis experiment has been tried in the Departments I mentioned, which in fact cover three-quarters of the telephone and telegraph services which Government Departments receive from the Post Office.