Postal Services Act 2011 (Disclosure of Information) Order 2012

Lord Cope of Berkeley Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord Razzall]

My Lords, I share the support of the noble Lord, Lord Young. This is the first occasion on which a parliamentary body has met since we read in the newspapers and heard on the radio that the Post Office pension fund will be transferred to the Government. Perhaps I may rather cheekily ask the noble Baroness whether she is prepared to expand on that, and to say whether that means that the European Commission has approved the transfer. Or is that a cheeky question too far?

[Lord Cope of Berkeley]

Yes, it is.

[Baroness Wilcox]

My Lords, I think that it is a cheeky question too far, but I am taking my time in saying that in case someone wants to wave at me, in which case I will be only too delighted to give him any information that I can. The Government submitted their notification to the European Commission in June 2011. We continue to work closely with the European Commission and expect to receive a decision by 31 March, which will allow the Government to implement their policy of relieving the pension deficit. I thank the noble Lord for that question.

Perhaps I may close on these orders and say that I am grateful for the debate. The orders are re-enactments of the relevant provisions that were available to Ofcom’s predecessor, Postcomm, under earlier legislation. In the case of the disclosure of information order, the order is re-enacting the gateways that had been available under previous postal legislation. I commend the orders to the Committee.