§ 5. Mr. Laneasked the Postmaster-General whether he has completed the review of the rules governing the destruction of articles in the returned letter branches; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Assistant Postmaster-General (Mr. Joseph Slater)The review will be completed in about two weeks' time.
§ Mr. LaneI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making this review and for the very full apology that he has sent to a constituent of mine who suffered loss of valuable documents. Is he aware that this seems a very long time to take to review what was a relatively simple matter? May we have an assurance that the review really will go far enough towards eliminating the risk of any repetition?
§ Mr. SlaterI hope that we shall be able to achieve that. The hon. Gentleman will agree that we were right to obtain the views of our staff, people working in the returned letter branches, responsible for looking after this traffic and with practical experience, before issuing revised instructions.