Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of (a) adequacy of the (i) performance and (ii) outcomes of Royal Mail’s Optimised Delivery Model trials and (b) whether these trials demonstrate that the model can meet the requirements of the Universal Service Obligation.

Operational implementation of the reforms to the Universal Service Obligation are a matter for Royal Mail’s management working with its workers and unions. The government does not have a role in the operational decisions of the business.

Ofcom is responsible for monitoring Royal Mail’s delivery of its universal service obligations and has committed to monitoring the implementation process closely, to identify any issues with the roll-out of changes, whether the cost savings have been realised, and any impacts on the consumer experience.