UK Parliament / Open data

Postal Services Bill

Debate on bills on Thursday, 9 June 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Ed Davey. The answering member was Nia Griffith.
Postal Services Bill. Programme motion (No. 2) on consideration of Lords amendments and Lords messages. Agreed on question. Consideration of Lords amendments. Lords amendments 1 to 28 agreed to.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

529 c310-54 

Session

2010-12

Department

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Legislative stage

Lords amendments

Procedure

Programme motions

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Related items

Postal Services Bill. Lords amendments. Explanatory Notes Bill 196-EN also published.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Bills
House of Commons

Proceeding contributions

Fiona O'Donnell | 529 c320 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware of the recommendation in the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs report tha...
Jack Dromey | 529 c320 (Link to this contribution) To develop our post office network, it is necessary to be imaginative and creative. Sadly, we are mo...

Show all contributions (79)
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 529 c317-8 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Lords amendments that we are considering today. They are an indication of the way in w...
Jack Dromey | 529 c318-9 (Link to this contribution) It is important that, when we come to the House, we should reflect the feelings of our constituents....
Speaker | 529 c319 (Link to this contribution) I might be anticipating what the hon. Gentleman is going to do, but may I remind him that these Lord...
Jack Dromey | 529 c319-20 (Link to this contribution) I was just about to do so, Madam Deputy Speaker, but like the Minister, I embarked on some historica...
Ed Davey | 529 c311-3 (Link to this contribution) I would like briefly to take hon. Members back to the Bill's Third Reading in this House, when I mar...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 529 c314 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?
Nia Griffith | 529 c314-7 (Link to this contribution) I shall take your advice on the matter, Madam Deputy Speaker; I believe that the hon. Lady should st...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 529 c320 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman refresh my memory on how many new post offices were created under the Labour...
Michael Connarty | 529 c327 (Link to this contribution) Despite all these amendments, which have been won by clear arguments put by Labour Members in the Ho...
Mike Weir | 529 c323-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has taken her chances by asking that question, but it goes beyond the scope of the ame...
Jim Shannon | 529 c325-7 (Link to this contribution) I am aware that you have asked us to focus on the amendments, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I intend to ...
Mike Weir | 529 c322-3 (Link to this contribution) I have expressed opposition to post office closures for 10 years in the House, and my view is unchan...
Fiona O'Donnell | 529 c323 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman's party had any discussions with the Government about the future of the Royal...
Jack Dromey | 529 c321 (Link to this contribution) In that case, I must regretfully resist the temptation to respond to the hon. Member for Solihull (L...
Speaker | 529 c321 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are supposed to be discussing amendments that have come from the House of Lords and deal w...
Speaker | 529 c311 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to consider Lords amendments 2 to 11.
Ed Davey | 529 c311 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with Lords amendment 1.
Ed Davey | 529 c352 (Link to this contribution) Mr Deputy Speaker, I would love to speculate on such a matter, but Madam Deputy Speaker has made it ...
Thomas Docherty | 529 c352 (Link to this contribution) Let me take the Minister back to the point about some of the other providers, such as City Link, whi...
Ed Davey | 529 c352-3 (Link to this contribution) That is the whole point of the Bill's ensuring that the universal provision is there for us. It will...
Michael Connarty | 529 c353 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has missed out Lords amendment 21, which came from the Government side and has not been...
Ed Davey | 529 c353-4 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. I thought that I had dealt with that when I responded to the rema...
Ed Davey | 529 c350-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) for her general welcome for many of our...
Nia Griffith | 529 c351 (Link to this contribution) I am not against the idea of Ministers intervening, because it is very important to have that opport...
Thomas Docherty | 529 c345-6 (Link to this contribution) I would like to press the Minister on Lords amendments 16 to 19, to clause 28. He has rightly spoken...
Richard Fuller | 529 c346-7 (Link to this contribution) I should like to echo the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt). This is ...
Nia Griffith | 529 c342-4 (Link to this contribution) Lords amendment 17 requires that, when having regard to the requirement for a postal service to be f...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 529 c344-5 (Link to this contribution) This final string of amendments is another testimony to how the Government have listened to colleagu...
Michael Connarty | 529 c347 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) referred to the trade unions in a way that sounded as t...
Speaker | 529 c340 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to take Lords amendments 16 to 22 and 25.
Ed Davey | 529 c340-2 (Link to this contribution) As has been made clear at every possible opportunity, the Government are absolutely committed to the...
Ed Davey | 529 c340 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with Lords amendment 15.
Mike Weir | 529 c336 (Link to this contribution) With respect to the Minister, this is not about setting things in aspic. The problem is that there i...
Ed Davey | 529 c336 (Link to this contribution) There have been Post Office ““locals”” pilots in all parts of the country. We are up to 80 local sch...
Ed Davey | 529 c339 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for welcoming the amendments, and I hope that the rest of the House will suppo...
Nia Griffith | 529 c339 (Link to this contribution) This is a group of technical amendments. We all want legislation to be as clear, precise and effecti...
Ed Davey | 529 c337-9 (Link to this contribution) The amendments in this group are either minor or technical—or, indeed, both. However, they make some...
Speaker | 529 c337 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to take Lords amendments 13, 14, 23, 24 and 26 to 28.
Ed Davey | 529 c337 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That this House agrees with Lords amendment 12.
Ed Davey | 529 c337 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be engaging in that debate with Post Office Ltd. The hon. Me...
Mike Weir | 529 c337 (Link to this contribution) If the Minister reads my remarks, he will see that that is what I said. I understand that the closur...
Ed Davey | 529 c336-7 (Link to this contribution) We are in danger of going over old ground. The hon. Gentleman will know, because we have had this de...
Ian Davidson | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) If such developments arrive in the future they will be welcome, but will the Minister return to the ...
Ed Davey | 529 c335 (Link to this contribution) I say to the hon. Gentleman and his constituents that they should look at the economics of the post ...
Jack Dromey | 529 c335 (Link to this contribution) The Minister speaks of hope, and the same word was used when the Bill was launched. Seven post offic...
Ed Davey | 529 c336 (Link to this contribution) The reason why I am not agreeing to the hon. Gentleman's kind invitation is that, under legislation ...
Jack Dromey | 529 c335 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to press the point, but my local community has looked at the pilots, is inspired by the p...
Fiona O'Donnell | 529 c334 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will no doubt want to read the piece of paper that has just arrived in front of him, bu...
Ed Davey | 529 c333-4 (Link to this contribution) I certainly would not—but when Labour Members make such points they really have a cheek, because the...
Speaker | 529 c334 (Link to this contribution) Order. Will the Minister, in answering, return to the question of viability and the links with mutua...
Jim Shannon | 529 c336 (Link to this contribution) Hon. Members have referred to the pilots, but has there been a UK-wide pilot, or any in Scotland or ...
Ed Davey | 529 c332 (Link to this contribution) I listened carefully to that interesting point in the hon. Gentleman's speech, and the way in which ...
Mike Weir | 529 c332 (Link to this contribution) The Minister says that 66% of those employees held on to their shares, but if they were 66% of a pro...
Ed Davey | 529 c331-2 (Link to this contribution) I am looking forward to doing that, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Member for Llanelli welcomed Lord...
Speaker | 529 c331 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we could return to the amendments. We are debating the Lords amendments to the Bill—this is ...
Ed Davey | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right—and we have been clear about this—that the network must be viable before goin...
Ed Davey | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is in no position to criticise the Government about this, but I am happy to allow her ...
Fiona O'Donnell | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) I note that the Minister missed the green giro off that list. The position not only puts the post of...
Ed Davey | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) I expressed my disappointment that Post Office Ltd did not win that contract from the Department for...
Ed Davey | 529 c327 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman tell the House which part of the Bill he is worried about? Which part will c...
Speaker | 529 c328 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are not discussing the entire Bill. We are having a time-limited debate about specific ame...
Michael Connarty | 529 c328 (Link to this contribution) The part of the Bill I am talking about—
Mike Weir | 529 c329 (Link to this contribution) The proposal is for the mutualisation not of Royal Mail but of Post Office Ltd, so the average posti...
Michael Connarty | 529 c328-9 (Link to this contribution) I was talking about the amendments; the new requirement in Lords amendment 1 is that the report must...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 529 c330 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that having large numbers of shares does not necessarily help, but being a s...
Michael Connarty | 529 c329-30 (Link to this contribution) That is even more frightening. People at that end of the business are facing the same problems from ...
Michael Connarty | 529 c330 (Link to this contribution) I only wish that that were true. I assure the hon. Lady that although small shareholders can go alon...
Ed Davey | 529 c330-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) finished where the hon. Member fo...
Nia Griffith | 529 c331 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to stray away from the amendment, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I think it needs to be put on...
Nia Griffith | 529 c313 (Link to this contribution) It is indeed our intention to be a constructive Opposition and to welcome amendments that improve th...
Damian Collins | 529 c321-2 (Link to this contribution) Following the speech by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), I wish to raise a f...
Ed Davey | 529 c351-2 (Link to this contribution) We need to have flexibility in the legislation to ensure that if the circumstances are so bad for Ro...
Ian Davidson | 529 c352 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister believe that that additional expenditure—that enormous cross-subsidy to the highla...
Michael Connarty | 529 c347-50 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, and I am glad that we have a solid platform on which to continue the debate. It is r...
Richard Fuller | 529 c347 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the opportunity to reassure the hon. Gentleman that he must have misheard what I said. ...
Ed Davey | 529 c334-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree that we should focus on the long-term viability of the post office network. I recently atten...
Nia Griffith | 529 c333 (Link to this contribution) We are talking about the mutualisation of the Post Office, but that can take place only if it is via...

Subjects

Debts
Government assistance
Private sector
Privatisation
Post offices
Pension funds
Profit sharing
Postal services
Post Office
Sales
Shares
Shareholders
Royal Mail
Universal service obligation
British Postal Museum and Archive

Legislation

Postal Services Bill 2010-12

Link

View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk
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