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Postal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, these amendments are similar to ones I tabled in Committee and make very much the same point. I have, of course, carefully read the Minister’s response to my amendments in Committee and I am grateful to him for the subsequent letter on the matter, which contained a great deal of useful information about the Government’s thinking and expectations of Ofcom. Unfortunately, I am still concerned. The Government’s defence of the current drafting rests on the safeguards in the Bill that Ofcom should be proportionate, non-discriminatory, et cetera, coupled with their other requirements to seek to be deregulatory and so on. That is all well and good and I am sure that Ofcom genuinely intends to apply these conditions only when appropriate. The fact remains, however, that Ofcom and the Government are insisting that power be given now for future regulation of the services I have specified in my amendments. The very insistence that such regulation be possible is precisely what is causing me concern. In Committee, the Minister specifically referenced the possibility that services such as "document exchange" might be regulated in the future. Essentially, my argument boils down to the simple premise that if there is genuinely no intention dramatically to increase the scope of regulation to burden private-sector companies providing services that many question are even covered by the term "post", why is every indication being given that these amendments are being resisted? If the Government and Ofcom genuinely intend to reduce the amount of regulation out there, not by merely spreading it more widely and thinly, but instead by lighter as well as narrower regulation, I would contend that my amendments would be an easy and harmless way of providing legal certainty and immense reassurance to the many companies concerned by this part. If the Government are, as their responses would unfortunately suggest, not currently intending to regulate these sectors, but are pretty relaxed at the idea that it might happen in the future, we have a serious problem. Many of these services were set up specifically to provide an unregulated alternative. Their very reason for existing, and the basis of their commercial success, is that they are not the universal postal service. They are as irrelevant to the Royal Mail’s continuing provision of the postal services this country needs as is the question of whether post offices continue to sell pick ‘n’ mix—something I personally regret is no longer very common, but certainly not something I wish the Government or a regulator to get themselves involved in. There has been considerable debate about how and where exemptions might be inserted and I am very open to persuasion on this matter. My Amendments 58 and 61 are focused on the clauses where the universal service and the services considered within its scope are defined. This is because I am deeply troubled by the idea that Ofcom could eventually decide that users’ needs justify, or even require, broad regulation. I remember, when I had responsibility, that regulation always seemed to be a wonderful option. I know that many of us have had experience of the Health and Safety Commission. The idea of being able to step in and sort out all the alleged problems is a very tempting one, but that temptation—and I am talking about areas other than health and safety—is exactly what has led to the most enormous mountain of red tape currently suffocating businesses right across this country. My instinct was, therefore, to cut off that possibility as early as possible and to not even allow Ofcom to entertain the idea of regulating these services. However, I know the Secretary of State and his colleague Ministers feel that the market assessment should be as broad-based as possible in order to result in the most accurate picture of the sector on which to make regulatory decisions. I can see their point, although I do not entirely agree. I would be happy with inserting these exemptions into Clause 27, where it could be made absolutely, unquestionably clear that there is no possibility of the conditions—apart from consumer protection, the essential condition—being imposed on these services. I just hope the Secretary of State and his Ministers have thought a little further on these points and may be announcing to the House tonight that they accept them. I beg to move.