Postal Services Bill

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Jesse Norman

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tom Blenkinsop]

No, I do not. The point of the IBA is to allow for an established foundation so that post offices can exploit further services, but we have not seen, to date, what those services will be. We have had promises about potential services, but as in the case of the press stories about PayPoint bidding for benefits contracts, for example, we hear one thing and then there is evidence of something else occurring.

Post offices are, in the main, independently owned, and the mutualised scheme assumes that the vast majority will opt into the mutual model, without providing any details of what that will mean in practice for a particular post office, which mutual model will be adopted, or whether Government will sit on the board of a mutual or a workers’ co-operative or customer-workers’ co-operative. Nor does it say what would happen to a sub-postmaster if they decided not to opt into the model. In any case, a mutual model offers no safety without a long-term guaranteed IBA for business. Royal Mail could, and probably will, seek cheaper access points after the IBA has expired.

How can the Government guarantee fair commercial negotiations between a privatised, large and powerful Royal Mail and a mutualised, smaller Post Office Ltd? Perhaps the two coalition partners, with one obviously being large and the other smaller, can give us some information on how such negotiations go ahead and how such agreements are reached. However, looking at this from the outside, it does not look particularly helpful for any form of Post Office Ltd taking forward any sort of commercial negotiations. If the position cannot be guaranteed, what message does that give to business and to the general public at large, and what chance is there of having an independent Post Office that opts out of a mutualisation scheme and goes into commercial dealings with a larger Royal Mail?

The Government’s proposed pilots have yet to start and to prove how new services in post offices will have worked. That is not to say that they will not, but there is no evidence as yet for us, as legislators, to see that evidence before we carry on.

[Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)]

Obviously the details are some way from being decided, and the model for how the Post Office will be organised as a mutual, if that happens, has yet to be chosen. Surely, however, this is something to be welcomed across the House. There may be concerns about the specifics, but does not the hon. Gentleman feel a sense of warmth towards the idea of a mutual Post Office?

[Tom Blenkinsop]

As a member of the Labour and Co-operative party, I always have a sense of warmth towards mutuals and co-operatives. However, I do not yet know what we are being sold, and until I see the details I ain’t signing anything.

Post office and mail services are seen not as mere businesses but as an essential part of our way of life. These are not just romantic notions on my part. I cite the report issued last year by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, which says that local post offices provide a focal point for communities. It says that they are

“an instrument of social cohesion”

that

“preserve the fabric of our society”

and are places

“where vulnerable and non-vulnerable people alike share services”.

Every week 20 million people visit a post office. For every £1 transacted in the UK, 14p is handled through the post office network. Post offices are also a lifeline for many of the most vulnerable people in society, including older people, the disabled, people on low incomes and also—this is important to me in my constituency—those living in rural villages and small towns.

Small businesses are also extensive users of the post office network, particularly its mail services. I understand from the Federation of Small Businesses in my region that 20% of its member companies use post offices, while 59% use their local post office at least once a week. The growth of online business transactions has boosted this usage significantly, with Royal Mail parcel delivery posted from local post office branches being the preferred medium.

The inherent strength of the current post office network lies in its depth and its reach. The existence of 11,500 sub-post offices means that the network of post offices remains bigger than all the bank and building society branches put together. This becomes even more important when we note the continued closure of local bank branches.