§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what account he took in setting the service targets for delivery of first and second class mail, respectively, with the Post Office, of the level of incorrectly-addressed and mis-sorted letters, respectively; what allowance is made in the targets for such items; and what information he has as to the extent to which current achievement meets the target allowances;
(2) what service targets for delivery of first and second-class mail, respectively, he has agreed with the Post Office; what factors he took into account in setting the targets; what information he requires from the Post Office to monitor progress in achieving these targets; what steps he requires the Post Office to take to verify the accuracy of the sampling techniques in measuring their compliance with these targets; at what frequency; when they were fixed; when they were last revised; when they will next be revised; if he is satisfied with current performance against targets; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. TrippierThe Post Office has quality of service targets in which it aims to deliver 90 per cent. of first-class mail the working day following collection, and 96 per cent. of second-class mail by the third working day following the day of collection. There are four factors taken into account when the target was set for first-class mail. They are:
- (i) System constraints, where mail having a long distance to travel has been posted too late to meet the necessary connections on its journey to ensure delivery on time;
- (ii) Transport delays, where mail is delayed due to bad weather or mechanical failure. An allowance of 5 per cent. is made for this and system constraints;
- (iii) Customer error, which includes incorrectly addressed mail—an allowance of 2 per cent. is made for these errors;
- (iv) Post Office error, including mis-sorting for which an allowance of 3 per cent. is made.
For second-class mail allowance is made only for customer error and Post Office errors amounting to 2 per cent. each
The Department of Trade and Industry is provided with monthly national service results for both first and second-class mail and cumulative figures for the financial year.
The Post Office sampling scheme was validated in 1981 by an independent authority, Professor Alan Stuart of the London School of Economics. After a detailed investigation he verified that the scheme was valid and free from bias.
The Post Office has had quality of service targets since 1972–73. These were last revised in 1980 when the present target was set.
318WIt is disappointing when the Post Office does not attain these targets and the reasons for shortfalls are discussed with the Post Office. The latest cumulative figure up to December 1983 is 87.9 per cent. of first-class mail and 93.2 per cent. of second-class mail delivered on time. However, the Post Office is experiencing a number of problems at the present time including industrial action which affect the quality of service, notably in London and these issues have the close attention of the Post Office board.