§ Mr. Charles R. Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Industry what estimate he has made of the costs incurred by the Post Office in separating postal service operations from telecommunications in anticipation of the legislation.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallNone. The two operations have been largely separate for some years; any further costs to be in750W curred in the preparation for legislation will be small and outweighed by the subsequent benefits.
§ Mr. Charles R. Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Industry what progress has been made and what results have been achieved in the two-year action plan designed to restore the reliability of the postal service to the customer.
§ Mr. Michael MarshallDuring April-May of this year the Post Office has achieved its best delivery performance for first-class letters for 18 months and, allowing for the effects of the TUC day of action which disrupted transport schedules, the performance for second-class letters has been the best for two years.
The postal action plan announced by the Post Office last year, has contributed to this improvement. However, as the Post Office commented recently,
whilst the improvement is welcome, we all realise that we still have some way to go.