Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will estimate the time it would take for Ofcom to undertake a review of the effects of end-to-end competition on the universal service.

Last year, following a consultation, Ofcom, as the independent regulator for postal services, set out its guidance on its approach to intervening in response to a material threat to the universal service.

Ofcom has made clear that if its ongoing monitoring regime, which keeps the situation under continual review and allows for any new evidence, does not prompt the need for any earlier assessment, it will as a matter of course carry out a full assessment of the impact of competition on the universal service towards the end of 2015.

Ofcom's comprehensive monitoring regime is forward looking, based on business plans of Royal Mail and other postal operators, and as set out in its guidance, appropriate intervention could be taken within 6-9 months of identifying a potential risk to the provision of the universal service. More information about Ofcom's regulatory regime can be found on its website (www.ofcom.org.uk).