Royal Mail and the Universal Service Obligation

Stephen Hammond Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Ali, and to contribute briefly to the debate. I will read out two emails from constituents. One says:

“My son was sent a Penalty Charge Notice”

on 25 November, but it did not arrive until 15 December. That was from Mrs Martin, of Dora Road in my constituency. Today I had an email from Mr Smith, who said that the “shambles” continues; the Christmas decorations are down and the left-overs have been consumed, but he is “still receiving Christmas cards”. The first email was from December 2021, and the second from December 2022. The problems we in Wimbledon are experiencing with Royal Mail are not just this year’s problems. I have had numerous meetings with Royal Mail and my constituents, and the unions attended one of them. The postal service in Wimbledon is not delivering for my constituents. There was a short-term improvement, and management promised that they would change some working practices, but none of that has happened.

Wimbledon suffers particularly. I heard the complaints of the hon. Member for Jarrow (Kate Osborne) about Royal Mail’s management, and I agree that they are undoubtedly partly to blame. However, the CWU headquarters are in Wimbledon, and the CWU sees the operation in my constituency as a trial of strength with management. That undoubtedly means that we get a worse service than pretty much anywhere else in London—probably than in most of the country. Frankly, that confrontational attitude hinders my constituents.

The debate is about the future of the universal service obligation, as the hon. Lady said. The universal service obligation set out in the Postal Services Act 2011, which privatised Royal Mail, should be adhered to for my constituents, as well as for everyone across this country. I note that the Government have said that they will not change the universal service obligation from six days to five. Can my hon. Friend the Minister confirm that, if the Government are ever minded to do so, they will set out a way for other industries not to be impacted by a decline in the service? Can he also confirm that they have instructed Royal Mail not to become a parcel-only service? Despite so much being done by email, the postal service is still hugely important to many of my constituents and, I am sure, those of other hon. Members.

What will the Minister do to ensure that Ofcom meets its obligations as a regulator? We have very few levers to pull that will influence Royal Mail, tell it what to do or tell it how to improve its service; Ofcom has those levers. I often receive emails from constituents who ask me why I have not done more, or why Ofcom is toothless. What will the Minister do to ensure that Ofcom, which seems to have been largely absent during the poor delivery of the service, meets its obligation to hold Royal Mail to account, and to ensure that Royal Mail meets its universal service obligation?

Clearly, the current dispute is a problem and results in pressure from both sides. I hope that the Minister can reassure us that the universal service obligation, which is so important to the constituents of Wimbledon and other places, will be met.