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Postal Services Bill [HL]

I will not address what my noble friend Lord Clarke has just said because I agree with every point he made; many of them went over points I made last week. I want to look at Amendment 22 because it raises other issues that I hope my noble friend will reply to when he gets up. It talks about the report on the partnership deal and the disposal of revenue. One of the things that have not been quantified is the amount of investment that Royal Mail will need. The Hooper report talks about hundreds of millions of pounds. My noble friend the Secretary of State has talked about the need for hundreds of millions of pounds, but could that be quantified a little more? Does it mean £400 million or £500 million? Whatever does it mean? The amendment talks about the disposal of any money paid to the Treasury or any nominee. I am suspicious about what might happen to any money that comes from a private partnership. Will all of it go to Royal Mail? Will it go into investment and the modernisation of Royal Mail, or will part of it be swallowed by the Treasury? I am rather suspicious that the Treasury will want to get its hands on some of the money that is coming back. I would like, first, the required level of investment to be quantified and, secondly, an assurance that all of the money raised will go into the investment and modernisation that, we have been told, is needed. Will part of it go to the Treasury coffers? I await my noble friend’s reply on these points.