§ 2.48 p.m.
§ Lord Airedale asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether, in view of their campaign against robbery, they propose to make representations to the Post Office regarding a Post Office advertisement stating—"We don't think that credit transfer is a good idea … keep your money where it works best, in your hand".
§ Lord BeaverbrookMy Lords, it would not be appropriate for the Government to intervene in what is a commercial matter for the Post Office.
§ Lord AiredaleMy Lords, does that mean that the Post Office is entitled to hide behind a rule about day-to-day operations in the course of publishing a statement of general policy with which most people do not agree?
§ Lord BeaverbrookMy Lords, I regard the Post Office's response to the DHSS campaign as a legitimate commercial response. The Post Office is as entitled as any other organisation to compete for customers.
§ Lord AiredaleMy Lords, does the noble Lord suppose that the Post Office talks to its friends at the National Giro before it publishes such an advertisement?
§ Lord BeaverbrookMy Lords, I am not quite sure to what the noble Lord refers. The National Giro may well have come into it. The Giro Bank certainly represents one way in which the DHSS is able to transfer money to recipients.
§ Lord Williams of ElvelMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that in this advertisement the Post Office is advising the public not to deal with the Giro Bank since the Giro Bank handles credit transfers—quite properly, as it was set up to do? In advising the public that it does not think credit transfer is a good idea, is not the Post Office depriving its subsidiary of business?
§ Lord BeaverbrookMy Lords, that might be a slight effect of the point that the Post Office is making in the advertisement, but no doubt it is also trying to make the point against all its competitors in the commercial banking world.