Post Office Mail: Complaints (Hansard, 13 December 1984)

Lady Saltoun
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Lucas of Chilworth)
My Lords, the Post Office receives complaints at various levels about aspects of the mails service but records of these are not maintained.

Lady Saltoun
My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for that somewhat uninformative reply? May I ask whether he would care to comment on the fact that POUNC find that complaints, which are only the tip of the iceberg, particularly in the London area, are on the increase? Can he say whether any action is contemplated to reverse this regrettable trend?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I understand that the POUNC figures from which the noble Baroness probably reaches her conclusion refer to August and September of this year, where certainly the performance was below the target which the Post Office itself sets. I can tell the noble Lady that between October and November of this year the figures are impressively better and fall very little short of the target of 90 per cent. delivery on first-class mail.

§ Lord Elwyn-Jones
My Lords, can the noble Lord say how many complaints have been received from recipients of letters who found they were opened before they received them.

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, no, I cannot.

Lord Winstanley
My Lords, may I ask the noble Lord if he would use his influence to persuade the Post Office to publish the quality of service statistics which are regularly reported to the Post Office board? Would not these figures be of immense interest to noble Lords and to Members in another place?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, the quality of service is reported upon in the annual reports of the Post Office.

§ Lord Grimond
My Lords, in view of the allegations made by the CND, can the noble Minister give an assurance that none of this failure to deliver is due to censorship carried out without authority by the Post Office? Can he also tell us what if any authority there is for opening the CND letters?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I can give the noble Lord, Lord Grimond, that assurance. In the file in my hand I have a six-page letter from the personal assistant to the chairman of the Post Office explaining what has happened. I understand the CND have cooperated with the Post Office in investigating their complaint and have found that while the service was not all that could be desired, there was nothing wrongful in the terms in which the noble Lord posed his question.

§ Lord Nugent of Guildford
My Lords, could my noble friend tell us whether the universal introduction of the postal code might remove the large number of complaints that are still extant, and if so when the Post Office intend to do it?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, there are 67 mechanical letter offices in use now. It is hoped that the remaining number of 14 will be in use by the end of 1985. It is estimated that then there will be an improvement to the target that the Post Office have set. However, I should remind my noble friend that there are some 10,000 million letters sent per year—something like 35 to 36 million per day. To achieve a delivery rate figure of 87 per cent. of the target is quite a considerable achievement.

§ Viscount Hanworth
My Lords, can the noble Lord say why the postal codes are not put into the telephone books? This would lead to their greater use in quite a number of cases.

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I cannot tell the noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth, exactly why; but I understand there are certain security constrictions with regard to what goes into telephone directories.

§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, can the noble Lord tell us how these efficiency checks are carried out by the Post Office? Is he aware that when I complained about the non-delivery of letters, of which I had evidence, two months later I received a reply which said that the Post Office had checked that all letters had been delivered. But I remain totally unconvinced.

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, the checking is done by sampling methods.

§ Lord Davies of Leek
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the loss of quite a proportion of the letters is probably due to that monstrosity, the ball pen, and the fact that calligraphy and handwriting seem no longer to be taught in British schools?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, the misdirection and loss of mail is ofter caused by undecipherable writing on envelopes and packages. There are 124,000 postmen who have the job of reading these. It is perhaps no more than a matter of 398 human error that, on occasions, some get misdelivered.

Lady Saltoun
My Lords, in view of the fact that the Post Office gave the CND £100, I think, as compensation for damaged letters, will the Government consider some form of compensation for individuals where it can be proved that the loss of a letter has resulted in financial loss or other damage?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, this is entirely a matter for the Post Office, who run the operation. I understand that information with regard to compensation is available in leaflet form from most main post offices.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, will the noble Lord give the House an assurance that the Post Office investment requirements, which are very necessary to achieve the desired level of modernisation, are not being restricted in any way by Her Majesty's Government's restrictions on its borrowing powers?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I think that that is a little wide of the original Question, which was concerned with complaints. I have no doubt that if the noble Lord puts down a specific question, I shall be in a position to reply to him.

§ Lord Shinwell
My Lords, if there is a question of compensation for letters that do not arrive, is there any possibility of compensation for the vast numbers that do arrive that we would rather not have?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I share the feeling that I think lies behind the question of the noble Lord, Lord Shinwell. I very much share his sentiments.

§ Lord Plant
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, apart from some minor difficulties that have been mentioned, we have the best postal system in the world and that at this time of the year the House would want to place on record its thanks to postal workers?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for that question. I endorse what he says. In answer specifically to his question, yes, we do have a postal service which, by international comparative standards, is extremely high on the list, although the noble Lord will appreciate that comparisons are not always exact. The Post Office will have an enormous task in the next few weeks. I am glad that the noble Lord gives me the opportunity to express the hope that those who serve us most days in snow, ice, fog and all inclement weather as well as in the sunshine are also able to do their job satisfactorily and to get away to their families to enjoy a happy Christmas.