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Postal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, for his amendment. It represents a real step towards addressing the concerns which we raised in Committee about the post office network. I shall also respond to the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, and praise my noble friend Lady Byford who has a tremendous track record in fighting for the future of post offices, the Post Office card account and to secure the future of the post office network. I thank her for her contribution, not only in her support for Amendment 24 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord De Mauley, but also for making her point about the need to free up post offices to provide other services which are much needed in the community. As was said in Committee, post offices were very under-represented in the Bill. As we pointed out in the previous debate, after some 10 years of neglect, Royal Mail is being dealt with and put on the path to success. I should like to see the same amount of attention and support given to post offices. We have had some useful assurances from the Secretary of State, in particular the promise that no more programmes of closures are being planned, which is very welcome. Quite enough damage has been done to the network already by this Government. In Amendment 23 the Secretary of State has made a very welcome move to bring forward the need for annual reports on the post office network. That was not in the Bill but we all pressed for it. The way in which this is set out in Amendment 24 could be improved but, at last, we have post offices in the Bill. The duty to report on the network is one which we on this side hope will keep the issue of closures alive. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, that not only do I want to see the existing network maintained and improved, but ideally I should like to see many of the closures reversed. I am very happy to put that on the record. For that to happen much more attention needs to be paid to the matters that my noble friend and I have raised in Amendment 24. Our amendment seeks to extend the reporting requirement to cover the services which post offices are liable to provide. In Committee, we had a number of questions about the future of what was called post bank. Since then, we have heard a number of important items. It may be that the Secretary of State will refer to that. I was particularly pleased to hear Alan Cook, the managing director of Post Office Ltd, when giving evidence to the Select Committee in the other place, announce details and disclosure of the plans for current accounts to be available in post offices. Apparently, full details have now been published so the Secretary of State might like to refer to that. That is exactly the kind of initiative which should be brought forward and which should continue in the future. However, my amendment makes it clear that it is not just financial services which will ensure the long-term future of the post office network, but also the business which government departments are able to put the way of the Post Office. The report we are now talking about would be a very useful way of seeing whether the enthusiasm which the Secretary of State has said that the Government have for post offices leads to revenue being sent their way. The amendment in my name and that of my noble friend would ensure that there is some scrutiny of how the reorganisation of the Royal Mail group will affect the post offices. Even with a wealth of financial services and government business crossing their desks, post offices will, of course, always be about post. Any weakening of that relationship, especially when it leads to a reduction in the most secure and reliable of Post Office revenue, needs to be known about and acted on. I was pleased that the Secretary of State fulfilled his commitment to this House to publish the Government’s response to the Select Committee in the other place before we reached Report stage. It may have been a fine line—it was published today at 1 pm—but the House is grateful for that commitment being fulfilled and the response being published much earlier than would otherwise have been the case. That shows a tremendous amount of respect for this House and I am grateful to him for it. In that light, I hope he will accept my amendment. On the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Razzall, I agree with the noble Lord, as I did in Committee, that it is very important that the Post Office company has its own board of directors. I would welcome any assurances that the Secretary of State can give on the Post Office’s freedom from political interference in the future. I also agree that the Post Office network should be given the government support it needs, including, if possible, for the reopening of post offices that were shut down in the face of so much public opposition in recent years. However, there must be no further delay to this Bill. It has already come several years later than we would have liked and Royal Mail needs sorting out immediately. Although I completely agree that many improvements could and should be made to government policy towards post offices, I do not agree with holding Royal Mail hostage as a method of getting them, as I am afraid Amendment 63 does. I therefore have much pleasure in urging on this Chamber Amendment 24.