Royal Mail delivery standards

That this House is aware of worsening failures in Royal Mail’s delivery services, which is adversely affecting residents and businesses, with consequent missed medical appointments which arrive after the appointment date, fines for non-payment of bills and numerous other significant impacts; that Royal Mail recently warned that more than 100 UK postcodes across the UK are at risk of service disruption, reflecting a growing national crisis in postal reliability and recognises that First and Second-Class delivery targets are regularly missed, contributing to Ofcom fining Royal Mail £21 million, this year, and for the third successive year; is concerned Royal Mail has persuaded Ofcom to consult on lowering the standards of the Universal Service Obligation; believes these problems do not reflect on the hard-working front-line postal delivery staff who have been let down by an over-centralised management structure and profit-before-service orientated owners; and therefore calls on the Government to intervene to review Royal Mail’s operational performance, ensure that Royal Mail takes immediate remedial action to restore service reliability and to address staffing shortages and morale, and for Ofcom to fully utilise its enforcement powers, and to ensure the Universal Service Obligation is protected.