Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mark Hendrick and Vince Cable

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)]

T7. The Secretary of State will be aware that Remploy businesses were set up across this country after the second world war to give work to disabled people returning from the war. Those businesses have gone on for decades and given great work to disabled people. Why are the Government going to axe the programme?

[Vince Cable]

Certainly we should be doing all we can to support disabled workers. My understanding is that those decisions lie with the Department for Work and Pensions, but I would be happy to engage or help if there is a problem.

Postal Services Bill

Debate between Mark Hendrick and Vince Cable

Wednesday 27th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Is that the voice of heritage Labour—at last?

Let me summarise the substance of the Bill. As the discussion so far has revealed, Members will find much in the measure that is familiar. As I said, when drafting the Bill we drew on much the same evidence as the previous Government. The facts are not in dispute, and we have reached much the same conclusion: the company needs private sector investment, the pension deficit must be tackled and the regulatory regime must be reformed. However, this Bill is not identical to the previous Government’s Bill.

We have taken the opportunity to learn from what has gone before and to develop a new Bill that builds on this Government’s commitment to employee participation. The right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East made a major contribution to advancing the debate on the modernisation of the Post Office. When he was Minister for postal services, he said:

“We need a longer-term plan, with a proper buy-in from the work force”.

—[Official Report, 11 February 2009; Vol. 487, c. 1449.]

That is exactly what the Bill hopes to deliver.

First, let me turn to specific issues relating to the Post Office. As I have said, the Post Office and Royal Mail are different businesses. They face different challenges, which means that our approach has to be different. The post office network is unique. There are about 11,500 branches across the country, and it operates in places where other retailers do not. It offers services that other retailers do not. Above all, the Post Office plays an essential social and economic role in our communities. For that reason, the Post Office is for sale. The Bill is absolutely clear on that point.

I am concerned, however, that the current structure of the company is holding the network back. It seems to me that the Post Office is ideally suited to a Co-operative Group style of structure, where employees, sub-postmasters and communities get a greater say in how the company is run. The Bill includes a provision that would allow for a possible future mutualisation of the Post Office. Let me be clear that no firm decision has been taken on mutualisation; there would be a full public consultation before we moved to a mutual structure. In the meantime, I have asked Co-operatives UK to explore options for how a mutualised Post Office would work best.

[Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Has any thought been given to whether that would be a worker co-operative or a consumer co-operative?

[Vince Cable]

It could be either, or a combination of the two. That is why we have turned to the Co-operative Group to give us advice on the structure. However, I take it from the tone of the hon. Gentleman’s intervention that that broad approach would be welcome to him.