§ Mr. Martenasked the Postmaster-General why he originally stopped the practice of using the telephone account envelope for payment of the account; when he restored the practice and why; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. StonehouseThe practice was discontinued because the introduction of machines for sorting letters made it impracticable to re-use an envelope once it had been through the post. However, as my predecessor said in answer to the hon. and learned Member for Buckinghamshire, South (Mr. Ronald Bell) on 30th May, we were reconsidering policy on free postage on telephone bills. I restored free postage to all our customers in October, although not necessarily by re-using the account envelope.