§ Mr. HainTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what warnings have been issued by the Post Office and the Government about the sale of forged stamps in private retail outlets.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThis is an operational matter for the Post Office, but I understand that the Post Office issued no warnings because it judged that the attendant publicity would cause unnecessary panic and also prejudice investigations. The investigations have led to the arrest of 24 people in the London area.
§ Mr. HainTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the impact on Post Office revenue of recent stamp forgeries.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThis is an operational matter for the Post Office, but I understand that recent sampling of mail at major sorting offices in London indicates that the loss of revenue is unlikely to exceed £1 million, or less than 0.03 per cent. of total annual revenue in 1992–93.