§ Michael FabricantTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the Royal Mail's postage paid service in relation to(a) the fine imposed by Postcomm for next day delivery rate between April 2002 and March 2003 and (b) the drop in performance in next day delivery rate for the same service between April and December 2003, as cited in the Postcomm document dated 2 March. [161679]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Postal services Act 2000 enables Postcomm to take enforcement action against Royal Mail where it believes it is likely to breach its licence obligation. A final order was issued in December 2002 requiring Royal Mail to use all reasonable endeavours to achieve its licence targets for 1St Class Postage Paid Impression and Response Services. These are both 335W business products. Following Royal Mail's publication of its end of year results in May 2003, which showed that it had failed to achieve both these targets, Postcomm reached the view that Royal Mail had breached its licence and imposed a financial penalty in respect of this breach.
I understand that with regard to performance in 2003–04, the first six months showed an overall improvement. Due to Industrial Action and a major fire at Northampton Mail Centre in Quarter 3 (Oct-Dec 2003), there was a serious deterioration in performance. Postcomm will consider what action should be taken against Royal Mail, which may include enforcement or imposition of financial penalties, once they have received Royal Mail's end of year results at the end of May 2004.