Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Universal Service Obligation reform on the affordability of postal services for consumers.

It is the responsibility of Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, to ensure that the universal postal service is affordable for customers as well as being efficient and financially sustainable.

In its consultation document proposing a package of reforms to better reflect people’s usage of postal services and support financial sustainability, Ofcom set out that it plans to consider options to ensure the continued affordability of USO services, including more targeted interventions than the current Second-Class safeguard cap.