§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General if he will give figures to show the extent of the increase of expenditure on advertising by his Department during the first nine months of 1968 as compared with the similar period in 1967.
Mr. Stonehouse:
1967 1968 £ £ Postal Publicity 267,000 412,000* Giro 93,000 147,000† Telecomms Publicity 304,000 533,000‡ Recruitment 647,000 657,000 * Includes approximately £320,000 for a public relations campaign and for part of the expenses of a campaign to introduce the two speed service. †Publicity has been increased because of the introduction of the service on the 18th October. We may leed to spend much more on publicity in the next six months to encourage people to join and to use the service. ‡Includes a belated payment of £120,000 to the Contractors for expenses incurred in publicising yellow pages telephone directories and press publicity to encourage the public's correct use of the telephone and to stimulate off peak telephone traffic.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General what percentage of official Post Office mail is posted by the first-class letter service.
§ Mr. StonehouseI do not believe the hon. Gentleman would expect me to incur the expense of collecting this information from some 26,000 postal and telephone establishments; our internal instructions are much the same as the advice in our leaflet issued to businessmen—use the first class service if you want your letters delivered as soon as possible and the second class service where the speed of delivery is not critical.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General (1) what is the planned time for delivery of letters dispatched by the first-class letter service;
(2) what is the planned time for delivery of letters dispatched by the second-class letter service.
§ Mr. StonehouseFirst class letters should normally be delivered by either the first or second deliveries after the day of posting, except where long or cross country journeys make this impracticable.310W We aim to deliver second class letters one working day later than first class letters, but some take a little longer and some are delivered earlier.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General (1) what percentage of the total of all letters was dispatched by second-class letter service in the weeks ended 21st September, 28th September, 5th October and 12th October, respectively;
(2) what percentage of the total of all letters was dispatched by first-class letter service in the weeks ended 21st September, 28th September, 5th October and 12th October, respectively.
§ Mr. StonehouseProportions during the first four complete weeks of the new letter service were:
Week ended Sept. 22nd Sept. 29th Oct. 6th Oct. 13th per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. Second class letters 75 72 70 69 First class letters 25 28 30 31
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General (1) what percentage of letters dispatched by the 4d. post was delivered by first post on the day after posting during the four weeks ended 14th September;
(2) what percentage of letters dispatched by the first-class letter service was delivered by first post on the day after posting during the four weeks ended 12th October.
§ Mr. StonehouseOver 80 per cent., in both periods.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General if he will provide figures to show to what extent letter post has increased or decreased since the introduction of the two-tier system.
§ Mr. StonehouseLetter traffic is now about 5 per cent. higher than in August 1968, reflecting the usual seasonal increase.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General what proportion of the total of all letters delivered in London was delivered by first post in the week ended 12th October; and how this compares with the same week last year.
311W
§ Mr. StonehouseAbout 55 per cent., compared with some 75 per cent. last year.
§ Mr. Bryanasked the Postmaster-General (1) what percentage of mail dispatched by second-class letter service achieved the planned time of delivery in the weeks ended 21st September, 28th September, 5th October and 12th October, respectively;
(2) what percentage of mail dispatched by first-class letter service achieved the planned time of delivery in the weeks ended 21st September, 28th September, 5th October and 12th October, respectively.
§ Mr. StonehouseOur service observations are designed to give statistically reliable results for periods of a month; for the four week period in question 93 per cent. of second class letters and 94 per cent. of first class letters were delivered as planned.
§ Mr. G. Campbellasked the Postmaster-General whether second class letters posted in Arran for destinations in Arran have, at any time between 15th September, 1968 and 16th October, 1968, been taken to the mainland and returned before delivery.
§ Mr. StonehouseYes, but the practice ceased on the 26th September.
§ Dame Joan Vickersasked the Postmaster-General how much overtime has been necessary to cope with the new postal system; what has been the total cost since the new system was introduced; and what has been the percentage of 5d. and 4d. post.
§ Mr. StonehouseSome additional overtime is being worked, but this is due to a number of causes. It is too early to draw conclusions about the cost of the new service. About 29 per cent. of mail has been posted at the first class rate, and 71 per cent. at the second class.