Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the conclusion in the Seventh Report of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee entitled Royal Mail, published on 17 March 2023, HC 1045, that Royal Mail has breached its universal service obligation.

The Government’s objective continues to be ensuring the provision of a sustainable, accessible and affordable universal postal service.

It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards and decide how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without good justification. The Government has no role in Ofcom’s regulatory investigations.

On 15 May 2023, Ofcom announced an investigation into Royal Mail’s quality of service performance for 2022-23.