Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps he is taking to help improve the performance of the delivery of first class letters in the North East region.

While it is welcome that Royal Mail’s most recently released quality of service figures, for Q1 26/27, show an improvement, I have been frank in my conversations with Royal Mail’s leadership that the service has been unacceptable for too long and the pace of improvement must increase, including for customers in the North East.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator, is responsible for setting, monitoring and enforcing Royal Mail’s service standards under the universal service obligation.

Ofcom continues to monitor Royal Mail’s quality of service data closely and will take regulatory action where necessary to hold the company to account for improving service standards.