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Postal Services Bill [HL]

Amendment 81 deals with access points, to which my noble friend Lord Whitty referred at Second Reading. When he referred to the obligation imposed on Ofcom he noted that the Bill was silent on Ofcom’s duties towards Post Office Counters. It is very difficult to talk about the Post Office without realising that the brand is not just those people running around in post buses, but is about such things as counters, delivery people and trunking. When we look at the services of the Post Office, we also have to look at the access referred to in this amendment. As the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, noted, Postcomm had the duty to look at the level and adequacy of the number of post offices. I am one of those people who will rejoice when we emblazon across all the newspapers what the Secretary of State recently told this House: namely, that there will be no more closures. Was it not good news for those people on all sides of this House who have spoken about people walking with their Zimmer frames to a post office that is more than a mile away? Wonderful people from various parts of this House have said that it is wrong to deprive decent, ordinary, hard working and sometimes very vulnerable people of access to a post office. Now we have it: there will not be any more closures. I suggest that wherever noble Lords go they make sure that the Secretary of State’s words are repeated. They might even do some good if noble Lords are canvassing for a candidate. It would be a grave mistake to leave the network of post office branches without statutory protection. This amendment locates the network of branches within the universal postal service. In future, the universal service provider, which in reality can be borne only by Royal Mail, would be obliged to maintain a branch network which guaranteed universal access for all customers. I welcome the recent move by the Government to underpin the work going through the network of post office branches. I particularly congratulate the Government—I nearly said the Secretary of State—on ensuring that the Post Office card account replacement is to be managed by the Royal Mail. Further, I greatly welcome the suggestion that the Government are anxious to examine ways of increasing the products and services delivered through local post office branches. I hope that this will lead them to look favourably on the proposal for a Post Office bank offering comprehensive and innovative services. Given the continued turmoil in the financial markets, it is noticeable how the Post Office is a trusted and reliable brand for large sections of the public. Such good will needs to be built upon. This will not be possible if the existing network collapses through neglect or by design. The amendment would ensure that such a scenario was not possible. Local post offices are a powerful platform for delivering the universal service, and the regulator will have to take this into account with its guarantee in legislation. I notice that during the second day in Committee the Secretary of State said that no more post offices would be closed, and I hope I live long enough to see that promise fulfilled. I know that such a statement is generally welcomed, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, did exactly that in summarising the debate around Amendment 31. However, I will draw the Secretary of State’s attention to the Labour Party manifesto of 2005. The document represents a promise made to the British people, who responded favourably enough to give the Labour Government a further term in office to honour it. In particular, I draw attention to the commitment which states that, ""we have given the Royal Mail greater commercial freedom and have no plans to privatise it. Our ambition is to see a publicly owned Royal Mail fully restored to good health, providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment"." I shall stop there because I was going to repeat the long quote when we first heard that in the 2000 Act. At the time, Stephen Byers MP gave certain assurances to the British people. We might get a chance to return to the point when it is not such a late hour and I will be able to tell noble Lords exactly what we told the world in 2000 and 2005. It still sticks in my throat that we are debating plans to privatise Royal Mail, or as they say, at least part of it—I say "they" meaning the Government, who I do not agree with. Given that, what begins to emerge is the commitment made by the Secretary of State to the future of the counters network. Does he mean that the Government have no intention of supporting any programme of post office closures before a general election or does he mean that the Government would actively say to the electorate in 2010 that they oppose any further programme of post office closures and will wish to be elected on that basis? The seriousness of our concerns about the future should lead the Government to consider embracing Amendment 81. I beg to move.