Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of changes to Royal Mail's Universal Service Obligation on the delivery of time-critical NHS correspondence.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, has made changes to the obligations imposed on Royal Mail to push the business to improve reliability across all types of postal deliveries.

The government recognises the importance of delivery of time-critical NHS letters. Royal Mail has introduced an NHS barcode to optimise delivery of NHS letters at times of local and national disruption and assist NHS units that continue to rely on post to send urgent correspondence to patients. In addition, NHS England and NHS Providers have produced guidance for NHS organisations, including a case study, to increase awareness and uptake of the variety of Royal Mail services for the timely delivery of letters.