Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Vikki Slade
Main Page: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)Department Debates - View all Vikki Slade's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation
Vikki Slade Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Blair McDougall
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that the situation is a result of long-standing structural issues in Royal Mail, and with postal services more generally. My focus later today with Ofcom will be to ensure that it is pressed to deal with exactly the issues that my hon. Friend describes.
Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
I align myself with the stories that everybody has told. Constituents in Sturminster Marshall received two postal deliveries in the whole of January, and then Royal Mail tried to blame letters not being delivered on the flooding, which happened at the beginning of February, so I do not trust anything it says. I am concerned about my posties, who are literally being brought to tears on the doorstep. They are being told that they cannot have any overtime even though posts are being advertised, and they cannot complete their rounds. They have explained to me that they are being expected to manage their decline. What is the Minister doing to stand up for these frontline workers who are key to our communities?
Blair McDougall
The hon. Lady is right to pay tribute to her local posties. It is because we recognise the connection between the sustainability of the Royal Mail and the postal service and the conditions of workers and the importance of the talks that are going on, that the Secretary of State has been convening the meetings that I have mentioned, and he will continue to do so.