Post Office

HC Deb 25 April 1977 vol 930 cc691-3

1. Mr. Goodhart

asked the Secretary of State for Industry when he last met the Chairman of the Post Office.

The Minister of State, Department of Industry (Mr. Gerald Kaufman)

My right hon. Friend last met the chairman on Wednesday 20th April and I met the chairman last on Thursday 21st April.

Mr. Goodhart

Does the Minister recognise that the Post Office's proposal to raise the 6½p basic letter rate has been particularly criticised by the Post Office Users National Council and will hit hard the poorest sections of the community? Does he also recognise that the Post Office Users National Council has been particularly harsh in its criticism of the proposed increase in the overseas book rate, which will do immense damage to our publishing industry? Does he agree with those criticisms?

Mr. Kaufman

We are studying these matters and my right hon. Friend will announce his views after they have been discussed. I hope that when the Opposition are discussing these matters they will recollect the views put by one of their official spokesman in the House, who said that complete price freedom for the Post Office was a welcome policy, that subsidisation should not be undertaken and that Government meddling in these matters was to be regretted.

Mr. MacFarquhar

Does my hon. Friend recognise that there is widespread dismay that the Post Office is apparently not going to reintroduce Sunday collections at the end of its experimental period? Does he also recognise that many people are puzzled about how this decision, if it has been arrived at, has been reached, because there has been no indication of widespread public consultation?

Mr. Kaufman

There has been consultation on this matter. The Post Office reaches its own decisions. Only a tiny percentage of collections take place on Sunday, and if the Post Office were to reintroduce Sunday collections the cost would be immense and the Post Office would lose a great deal of money on it. It would be for those who wished the Post Office to accept that considerable loss, running into many millions of pounds, to suggest how that money should be regained.

Mr. Bowden

Will the Minister, on the next occasion when he meets the Chairman of the Post Office, discuss the placing of orders for telecommunications equipment with the industry? Is he aware that the violent fluctuations in policy in this area have caused grave difficulty and distress for many parts of the industry? Further, will he discuss the price paid for this equipment, which is well below the equivalent price paid by many foreign Governments to their Post Offices and, therefore, prevents our telecommunications industry from exporting effectively?

Mr. Kaufman

Obviously, these are matters of great concern. The impact of telecommunications orders on manufacturing has been discussed again and again between the Government, the trade unions, the manufacturers and the Post Office, because we recognise that this is a serious matter and that there can be serious social consequences. At the same time, I hope that nobody on either side of the House would expect the Post Office to order equipment that it did not need.

Mr. Fell

But is the Minister really deeply satisfied with the second-rate service that the Post Office is now giving to the British people?

Mr. Kaufman

I have just returned from the United States, where I had discussions with the Postmaster-General of the United States, and I had meetings in the last week with the Director-General of Posts in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Fell

I am talking about Britain.

Mr. Kaufman

Both of them express admiration for the British postal service and say that it is one of the best in the world. It is about time that, instead of attacking the British Post Office, hon. Members expressed pride in having one of the best postal and telecommunications services in the world.

Mr. Fell

Absolute rubbish.

Sir K. Joseph

Did the Minister of State say that no one in this House would expect the Post Office to order equipment that it did not need? If so—I think he did—does his Secretary of State agree that this is also relevant to the Central Electricity Generating Board?

Mr. Kaufman

If the right hon. Gentleman has Questions to put on energy, he knows that he should put them to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy. But I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will use his influence among his colleagues to prevent the irresponsible outcry from them for a return to subsidisation in the Post Office's accounts.

Mr. Lipton

I do not wish to join in the criticisms that have been voiced today about the Post Office, but will my hon. Friend agree that the Post Office is less accountable to this House than it ever has been? In the old days we were able to ask Questions about the Post Office, which we are not permitted to do now.

Mr. Kaufman

That is certainly so, but it is a consequence of the enactment of the Post Office Act of 1969, and questions of that kind should have been dealt with then.