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Royal Mail

My Lords, I pay tribute to the postmen who deliver the mail to the door. I cannot recollect ever having met a postman who was not cheerful, helpful and enterprising, and I hope that whatever happens in the future, the contact between postmen and people in their homes all over this country will continue on the same friendly basis. Would the noble Lord say a little more about what he has in mind in relation to modernisation? Is it not a fact that the Post Office has made many attempts to introduce new electronic sorting methods and other more modern approaches, but that on almost every occasion those innovations have been resisted by the postal union? More recently, has not the Post Office endured extremely damaging and costly strikes in its attempt to introduce new practices? Can the noble Lord offer any encouragement that the leadership of the postal union is taking a more enlightened approach?