Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of opt-out schemes for unsolicited mail through letterboxes; and whether her Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take steps to (i) increase awareness of and (ii) strengthen existing schemes.

Royal Mail is legally obliged to deliver all addressed mail, including mail addressed ‘To the Occupier’ or ‘The Homeowner’. Royal Mail’s ‘door-to-door’ service should stop unaddressed mailings delivered by Royal Mail, around a quarter of all such mail.

The UK’s data protection legislation sets out obligations on organisations processing personal data and provides individuals with certain rights in respect of their data, including the right to object to their personal data being processed for direct marketing purposes.

The Government has also ensured the provision of consumer advice by providing funding for Citizens Advice, the independent consumer body, which provides free, independent and impartial advice on consumer issues and provides details of all the opt-out schemes available in relation to direct marketing on its website.