§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether the Post Office in seeking his approval to the extension of its facilities by the issue of credit cards indicated the likely cost of establishing such a facility against the competition of existing credit cards systems and produced evidence of the need and demand for such a facility.
§ Mr. Gregor Mackenzie:As the White Paper on the Development of National Giro (Cmnd. 6344) makes clear, the introduction of credit cards by the National Giro has only been accepted in principle and no detailed proposals have been made to the Government. Whenever the Post Office submits firm proposals all the relevant factors will be considered.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry what was the rate of return in the last year for which accounts are available on the assets employed in the Post Office.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieFor the telecommunications business, the return—before compensation—as a percentage of net assets was 5.2 per cent. in 1974–75. The financial performance of the other Post Office businesses is not normally measured in this way. However, the corresponding figures for the Post Office as a whole would be about 3.2 per cent.
§ Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the estimated target set for the Post Office expressed as a rate of return on assets employed for the current financial year.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieUnder the Post Office (Banking Services) Bill it is intended to set a target for Giro for the three-year period from April 1975 of an annual average return of 12½ per cent. on public dividend capital plus retained profit, after interest on the remaining loan capital. There are no financial targets set for the other Post Office businesses for the current financial year. I hope that with the elimination of deficits, it will be possible to re-establish financial targets for them in the fairly near future.