Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bill Esterson and Blair McDougall(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Blair McDougall
The hon. Gentleman is right to raise the issue. I know it is a huge problem in Northern Ireland, as it is in the rest of the UK. One of the great problems with the current system is that a small business has to be aggressive towards its own customers to chase those late payments. The Commercial Payments Bill will turn that power relationship on its head, and people will expect to be paid on time. If they are not, there will be mandatory interest on that.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
Debate between Bill Esterson and Blair McDougall(7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Blair McDougall
The hon. Lady has previously pressed me on another aspect of postal services—the availability of post offices in her constituency—and she continues to campaign for her constituents. I share the frustration felt whenever a Member of Parliament who raises a concern is told that everything is fine and not to worry about it. It is precisely because I share this concern that I am having the meeting with Ofcom later today.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
The Royal Mail excuses are wearing very thin, are they not? I have constituents who are going to the sorting office and being presented with piles—weeks’ worth—of letters, and others who are getting those same piles delivered in one go. The Minister said he is meeting Ofcom today. Does he think that the regulator needs additional powers? It is clear from his answers so far, and from the fact that we are still discussing something that has been going on for months, that something is not working. I encourage him to consider whether the regulator needs more, and what he can do.
Blair McDougall
I will certainly talk to the regulator later today in those terms, and will ask that question. As I say, the business is regulated through Ofcom, but where the Government have power, we are taking it; for example, there is our insistence on putting in the company’s deed of undertaking that money cannot be stripped out of the company until service improves.