§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Industry on what date he received the report from the Mail Users Association; and what is his policy towards the recommendations contained in the report.
§ Mr. ButcherThe report was received on 14 February and contained eight recommendations. Of these, four related to the detail of the tariff proposals, which are matters for the Post Office and which have been referred to the chairman of the Post Office for reply. Of the remainder, two were subsumed within the recommendation that the Post Office should implement a five-point plan to keep prices held; reduce prices where appropriate; sustain productivity improvements; restore service cuts; and improve the quality of service. Such action would be consistent with the range of financial targets and performance aims which the Government already set for the Post Office.
The final recommendation is that the external financing limit of the Post Office should be re-examined in order to evolve a business-like way for the Post Office to fund its investment. The Government are satisfied that the present system for setting the Post Office's EFL provides a satisfactory balance between the needs of the Post Office to fund its capital investment programme and the need to ensure proper control of public sector borrowing.