Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the decision to make a protective award to former employees of MADE.COM, what steps she is taking to help tackle the delays in processing redundancy payments by the Redundancy Payments Service.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
My officials at the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service have confirmed that due to uncertainties around the period detailed in the Protective Award consent order, legal advice was required before payments could be made. All other redundancy related payments due to the former employees of MADE.COM, which total £436,000, have already been paid. I am pleased to confirm that following resolution, payments under the Protective Award have now commenced.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of Royal Mail's postal service in the CO postcode area.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
I am aware that Royal Mail continues to have particular service challenges in some postcode areas. I note that Royal Mail management accepts its performance needs to be much better and has started to address this, for example, by recruiting an additional 3,000 postmen and women so far with a further 500 permanent delivery positions a week going forwards.
Ofcom sets and monitors Royal Mail’s service standards and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action where there are reasonable grounds for concluding Royal Mail has failed to achieve its obligations. I note that the regulator recently fined the business £5.6m for failing to meet its service delivery targets in 2022-23.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of fhe adequacy of Ofcom's enforcement of the postal services obligation on Royal Mail.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Ofcom is the designated independent regulator for the postal sector and the Government has no role in its regulatory decisions. It is for Ofcom to decide how to respond should Royal Mail fail to meet its obligations and I note that the regulator recently fined the business £5.6m for failing to meet its service delivery targets in 2022-23.