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Postal Services Bill

My Lords, perhaps I may make a very brief intervention. The noble Baroness, Lady Dean, and I have a small piece of shared past. In fact, we have shared more than one but this one is financial. We were both involved in a company which had an unhappy ending because it got its indebtedness entirely wrong. As far as I am concerned, I am sure that it is a small piece of burnt soul, and no doubt the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, feels the same. Therefore, being really concerned about the gearing of a balance sheet, which is what we are talking about, is absolutely right. In this amendment, Ofcom will have an absolutely clear duty to take into account the state of the universal service provider’s balance sheet. I do not see how it can possibly deal with the need to preserve the universal service in a good condition. The commercial returns that we have referred to and the service to the public are inevitable. The second part, about whether Ofcom should have the power to limit that indebtedness to a percentage so that the gearing is, from time to time, limited to a certain figure, is much more difficult. We must rely on the good sense—and the business sense—of the Royal Mail and any investors in the Royal Mail, and the good sense of Ofcom to alert the stakeholders concerned to any problems that it perceives, which it definitely would be able to do. This amendment goes a bit too far in trying to provide belt and braces, which is not an endeavour we should support.