§ Mr. TrendTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of responses to the Government Green Paper, "The Future of Postal Services".
§ Mr. EggarBy the end of the consultation period on 30 September, there had been some 13,400 responses to the Green Paper. A further 2,000 responses were received after 30 September.
Responses fell into two categories. The first category came from individual members of the public and local organisations and tended to be short responses on the principle of privatisation. The second category—some 50 responses in all—came from organisations with more specific interests in the future of postal services, including representatives of users, competitors and postal employees.
Of the first category, over half of responses were pre-printed postcards or short standard form letters issued by organisations opposed to the Government's proposals. Among the significant majority of letters there was confusion as to the detail of what the Government were proposing and little acknowledgement of the safeguards proposed in the Green Paper.
The second category of more detailed responses was more difficult to summarise. Many of them took the form of lengthy documents analysing the options and other 659W points of detail, with a wide variety of views being expressed. There was, however, an overall majority in this category in favour of privatisation of the Royal Mail and Parcelforce.