§ Mr. DobbinTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has approved the Post Office's five-year Strategic Plan 2001 to 2006; and if he will make a statement. [158292]
§ Mr. Alan JohnsonThe Government have approved the Post Office's five-year Strategic Plan for 2001–06, endorsing the Board's view that this should be the basis on which management should drive the business forward. This is a five-year rolling Plan which is updated annually. The Plan represents a key element in the new arms-length relationship that the Government have established with the Post Office in fulfilment of the reforms described in the White Paper published in July 1999. The Post Office is continuing to build on last year's Plan. Nevertheless, it recognises that there remains much to do in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
511WThe key features of the Strategic Plan are commercially confidential, and as such will not be published. In approving the Plan, the Government have maintained the medium term target for the Post Office to achieve a 13 per cent. return on capital employed for its operational business. This excludes the network of post offices and any non-operational interest arising from past surpluses. Return on capital employed is defined as profit before interest payable and tax, but after operating interest receivable, divided by operating capital employed.