asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that letters dispatched from Central London are now taking two or more days to reach destinations in the County of Angus where previously they were normally delivered in 24 hours; and what steps he is taking to remedy this position.

asked the Postmaster-General what is the average time taken for letters posted in London to arrive in north-east Scotland; and how this compares with a year ago.

There is no general delay in delivery to this part of Scotland. Letters posted in London by the early evening are normally delivered there on the following weekday, except for remote rural areas where they may take an additional day. This service is the same as that given a year ago.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that his reply shows that communications in his Department are even worse than we feared? Is he aware that, to my knowledge, there has been no example of a letter arriving with as little delay as he indicates, and will he suggest to his right hon. Friend that instead of concentrating on producing a whole lot of new stamps he should produce a decent service for this area?

I accept that the hon. Gentleman really believes that what he is saying is correct, but perhaps I might point out that even in his own constituency there has been only one complaint within the last six months.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that as well as having to face increased charges, the public are having to put up with letters taking a week to arrive, and parcels a fortnight to arrive, in parts of Scotland? Is this the kind of service which the public are to expect in the future?

All I can say is that apart from the criticism which the hon. Gentleman seeks to direct against the Department, the information that I have from the inquiries that I have made is that there is no general delay.

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible opportunity.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware of the difficulties caused for industrial firms and for commercial organisations and their representatives by lateness of postal deliveries in many areas; and if he will state his plans for dealing with the difficulties which have arisen.

We aim to make deliveries early enough to meet the wishes of industry and commerce, but it is not always practicable to do so. If the hon. Gentleman will give me details of cases where the time of delivery is causing difficulties I will gladly look into the matter.

Is the Postmaster-General aware that since this Question was tabled it has been made clear that this is a matter of profound concern to the organisation of commercial travellers throughout the United Kingdom? I hope that he will consider the matter carefully.

As a result of a previous representation made by the hon. Member one of his constituents was able to get his mail half an hour earlier. The difficulty is that if completion of the night mail delivery is to be made at an earlier hour an enormous amount of manpower must be occupied in making deliveries, and we have to strike a balance between costs and service in this regard.

To what extent can the right hon. Gentleman report an improvement in the services for dealing with mail to and from abroad? This has been a failure which has brought a lot of frustration to our exporters.

That is a separate question, to which I should like to give a measured answer. One of the difficulties with mail to and from abroad is that delays do not always occur in this country. There certainly was some difficulty two or three months ago, but there has been a substantial improvement recenly.

asked the Postmaster-General to what causes he attributes the recent deterioration of postal services in England and Wales, respectively; to what extent staff shortages are to blame; and what proposals he has for improving these services.

My information does not confirm the suggestion that there has been a recent deterioration in the letter service though postal services generally in England and Wales alike are still affected by staff shortages in some of our main sorting offices. A big increase in parcel traffic in recent months, together with our staffing difficulties, have resulted in delay to some parcels on occasions. We are maintaining our drive for more staff, to enable us to provide the advertised services. In particular we shall continue to work with British Railways to see what more can be done to speed up the transit of parcel mails.

I sympathise with the Postmaster-General in regard to some of these difficulties, but is it not a fact that in some cases the service now given is much worse than it was 50 years ago? I do not blame him or his Government, but there has been a continuous deterioration. Will he do what he can to try to stem this unfortunate trend?

I am not able to deal in detail with a comparison with the situation 50 years ago, but it is true that many years ago, when labour was cheap, the pattern of postal services took extreme advantage of that fact. As for the hon. Member's local interest, I am happy to be able to tell him that the intensive recruitment campaign in May and June resulted in our filling most of our staff vacancies in Cardiff, and in Wales generally the situation is no longer serious.

Is not the Postmaster-General aware that in Mid-Wales, certainly, where there is a centralisation of postal services, there has been an increasing delay in the delivery both of letters and parcels?

I appreciate the difficulties to which the hon. and learned Member refers, but as mechanisation develops in the postal services it is inevitable that we shall see a concentration of sorting into areas on a rather more centralised basis. This should not produce difficulties of the kind which the hon. and learned Gentleman has mentioned.

asked the Postmaster-General what progress he is making in his review of the present arrangements for postal delivery services in Birkenhead; and whether this will lead to the earlier delivery of morning mails and less delay for parcels posted to Birkenhead from other parts of the country.

asked the Postmaster-General what is the latest time at which the morning postal delivery should be completed in Birkenhead.

The review of the delivery arrangements in Birkenhead will take some time yet to complete. Its object is to ensure that the first letter delivery will be completed in all parts of the town by 9.30 a.m.—the standard finishing time in provincial towns—and where delivery is now later than this it will be made earlier. The review will have no effect on the time taken by parcels in the post but we are doing all we can in other ways to improve the parcel service.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that setting a concluding time for morning deliveries as late as 9.30 falls far short of the declared aim of his right hon. Friend to meet the wishes of industry and commerce in these matters? Is he not further aware that there has been continuous protest from business and financial interests throughout Birkenhead at the lateness of morning deliveries? Can he give no better answer than the one he has just given?

We shall do what we can in the current reorganisation to give these places an early delivery, but it would be out of the question to give them all a delivery by 8.30. We have introduced certain schemes under which business firms which want to have their mail delivered earlier can rent a private box at the Post Office and anyone can call for his mail at 6.30.

When will the review which my hon. Friend is undertaking be completed? What advice can he give to private individuals about what they can do if they find the present delivery time unacceptable?

They can make representations through the Post Office Users Council. With regard to the review, there is a good deal of preliminary work to do on testing postmen's walks. There are 172 walks and about 40 of them have so far been tested. It will take some time to complete this, after which the conclusions must be accepted by the staff engaged in this work.

asked the Postmaster-General what action he has taken and proposes to take to encourage citizens to post early for Christmas.

We are keeping the public informed of the latest dates of posting by posters on vans, on outside posting boxes and in Post Offices; by advertisements in a selection of the national and local Press; and, by leaflets available in Post Offices.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Would he consider making a Ministerial television broadcast on this matter in view of the fact that it is expected that in the last two weeks in December over 1,000 million letters and 20 million parcels will be handled? Would he, on behalf of the whole House, express appreciation to the permanent Post Office staff and temporary helpers for their work in this enormous task?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to say "Thank you" on behalf of the House and the general public to postmen and temporary helpers. The suggestion about a television broadcast on the theme of posting early for Christmas is not a new one. Previous Postmasters-General regularly did it; it has been so successful in the past that I do not think it will be necessary this year.

As this is a point of great interest to the public, would the right hon. Gentleman describe what sort of service the Post Office will be able to give in letter and parcel deliveries, as compared with, say, last year?

This is very difficult to forecast. A great deal, as the hon. Gentleman will realise, depends on whether the public post their parcels by the 18th and their letters and cards by the 20th. If this is generally done we are hopeful that all the Christmas mail will be delivered by Christmas time.

asked the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the inability of the Post Office to fulfil efficiently many of its services, he will ban advertisements by it.

Post Office advertising is now concentrated on recruiting staff and on helping the public to get the most out of the services (e.g. post early for Christmas). Advertising campaigns designed to stimulate certain postal and telephone business as such was stopped some months ago.

Is the Postmaster-General aware that the reason why "someone, somewhere" is normally waiting for a letter these days is due to the inefficiency of the postal services? Therefore, was there any need to advertise this service earlier in the year?

I am sure the hon. Gentleman means his comment to be directed only at me—and I am quite happy to take it—but it will, of course, be read by all the people who work in the Post Office at this time of the year as an attack on them. [An HON. MEMBER: "No."] Of course it will. It simply is not true to say that the postal services as a whole and the quality of service given have deteriorated over the last 12 months. Our statistics on this, which, naturally, a big Department like this keeps very carefully, prove this to be the case, but, of course, it is true that with 30 million letters to be handled every day—or, at Christmas, one hundred million a day—some will go astray. There are mistakes of this kind and, on behalf of the Post Office, it is naturally my duty to apologise for those mistakes.

asked the Postmaster-General when he expects the telecommunication services will be able to meet all customers' requirements.

Generally the Post Office telecommunications services are meeting most customers' requirements. I shall be glad to investigate any specific shortcoming which the hon. Member would like to refer to me. Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing services in Britain today. But with a large backlog of under-investment to overtake and soaring demand it will be some years before Britain has the service it really needs.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that he has made no attempt at all to answer my Question? If he has no idea when he will be able to satisfy the customers' demands, on what basis is he planning in his Department? Or is he not?

The position is that when I took over this office I discovered that the estimates published by the previous Government were, in the case of demand, 37 per cent. out, and, in the case of calls, 50 per cent. out within 12 months of the publication of the White Paper. I discovered that my predecessor had promised to end the waiting list by March, 1966, but, on the basis of the capital investment programme currently in operation then, it would have risen to 300,000 by March, 1969. This is why we have actually increased the capital investment programme which, in the current five years, will run at the rate of £1,200 million as compared with £900 million for the five years beginning with the 1963–64 period. I can tell the House that I am the first Postmaster-General who is not short of capital for the expansion of the services.

The House will be pleased that the right hon. Gentleman has increased the general capital programme over the next few years, but can he assure us that this capital programme is not suffering from cuts like many other Departments at present?

I can give the hon. Gentleman this assurance which, from his previous experience, he will be glad to have, that there is to be no deferment of essential telecommunications investment, even under the announcements made by my right hon. Friend.

asked the Postmaster-General what representations he has made to the British Railways Board concerning delays to parcel mails in transit on the railways.

We keep closely in touch with British Railways about the handling of parcel mails. They have recently introduced new arrangements which are designed to improve the quality of service.

Yes, but is the Minister aware that they have had the effect of slowing down the service? Will he say how long he thinks it should take a parcel to travel 50 miles and how long it actually takes?

I am aware of the interest which the hon. Member has taken in this matter because of the correspondence which I have had with him, but a problem of this nature is not capable of easy solution, as I think he will agree. Progress is being made. As my right hon. Friend has announced, after Christmas the latest arrangements for loading parcel mails will be reviewed.

asked the Postmaster-General what action he intends to take on Lord Hinton's report to the Minister of Transport on the co-ordination of the parcels service of the General Post Office with the railways and the road hauliers.

My right hon. Friend tells me that he will be making an announcement about parcels and sundries in due course and I would ask the hon. Member to await that statement.

Is the Postmaster-General aware that his noble Friend, Lord Snow, in another place the other day said that the parcels post was five times as expensive and slower than it was in 1939? Will he, therefore, take this matter of the parcels post particularly to his heart? Secondly, will he admit that it is not a coincidence that 19 out of the 88 Questions which have been asked today have been to do with the parcels and letter post?

I am well aware of this. Indeed, we signed the contract with British Railways earlier this year to give to the Post Office certain rights of supervision and, indeed, duplication of rail parcel carriage in the event of difficulty arising. It also saves £4 million a year, which will help to bring the service into balance. In so far as it is open to me to co-ordinate parcels delivery with the railways, this is already done. Wider questions about parcels and sundry services generally often refer to things of a very different kind from Post Office parcels.

asked the Postmaster-General how many complaints he has received during the last six months concerning the service provided by the General Post Office Philatelic Bureau.

We received some 3,750 written complaints about the Philatelic Bureau's services in the period June-November. In the same period the Bureau dealt with over 80,000 orders.

Does the Postmaster-General realise that three of these complaints came from one of my constituents, who then received a very handsome apology from the Postmaster-General and who by the very next post received six times the order he had placed?

My predecessor set up the Philatelic Bureau, which was a very wise step. We have learned in the Post Office that nothing fails like success, because the success of the stamps programme has led to great pressure. Philatelists are extremely meticulous, and I am not satisfied that all is going well. I am giving further consideration to the problem.

asked the Postmaster-General if he will make a statement about his efforts to halt the deterioration in London's postal services.

asked the Postmaster-General what action he is taking to halt the deterioration in Greater London's postal services.

I gave details of the measures I was taking to the House on 3rd November in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Brentford and Chiswick (Mr. Dudley Smith). Since then recruiting has improved still further and the service given is comparable to that given this time last year.

Is the Postmaster-General aware that because of the cancellation of one of the daily deliveries and also because of the repeated lateness of some of the other services, the service generally—in the words of one of my hon. Friends—is worse than it was half-a-century ago? While his efforts to stimulate recruitment are appreciated, will he look at the whole delivery system anew to see whether a much-needed improvement can be brought about?

The changes which I announced in August about the ending of the third delivery were necessary on the grounds of finance and manpower. Since the hon. Member last asked, we have added eight postmen to the Chiswick Post Office. Vacancies in the London Postal Region inner area, which were 1,400 in May, are now only 972 and we have employed women and part-time workers. This is the product of an intensive campaign which has led and should lead to improvement.

Is the Postmaster-General aware that the deterioration in the postal services and the frustration caused by that deterioration is exacerbated by the deterioration in the telephone service? Is he aware that one of my constituents has just been told that it will take 18 months to install a new telephone, whereas it takes two days to install a new telephone in New York?

The Bell Telephone System invested more capital in its system in one year than the Conservative Party invested in the 13 years it was in power. This is a problem common to the whole community, and it causes great difficulty. We are all in a sense responsible for this neglect, but after neglecting investment in the telephone service for a very long time it is no good suddenly expecting that it can be put right in a matter of months, because it cannot.

If recruiting in London has improved to a considerable extent, as I understand is the case, why is the service only as good as it was last year? Why has it not improved?

The problem of recruitment is not a new problem in London. The position deteriorated in the period between last year and now. We have sought to pull it back to the level of last year.

asked the Postmaster-General why the postal and telephone services have deteriorated in Richmond; and if he will set up a local inquiry into this.

Mainly because of a shortage of staff, the postal service in Richmond is not as good as it should be, but our recruitment campaign is meeting with some success. I have no reason to believe that the telephone service at Richmond has deteriorated.

Will the hon. Gentleman look at this matter again and answer my Question? Will he set up an inquiry into the deteriorating position which he just admitted exists? Is he aware that this problem is having a great effect on the commercial activities of firms in the Richmond area and that there has been no sign at all of improvement since the steps he took last summer?

All I can say in response to that supplementary question is that, apart from the complaints which have been made by one firm and which have been passed on to the Department, no evidence of serious loss of letters in the Richmond area has been reported.

In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Assistant Postmaster-General's reply, I beg to give notice that I will raise the matter on the Adjournment.

asked the Postmaster-General how many public lectures were given by officials of his Department, how many public showings of films about his Department there were, and how many public displays, demonstrations and exhibitions about his Department have taken place during the last 12 months.

In the last 12 months there have been about 3,600 public lectures by Post Office officials, 2,400 public showings of films and 8,700 public displays, demonstrations and exhibitions about my Department.

Will the right hon. Gentleman recognise that this is a very valuable way by which officials of his Department can assess public reaction to the services he is providing? Is he aware that in the case of a statutory monopoly one often has the impression that complaints are received rather in the way of one kicking against cotton wool? Does he not agree that officials who are in contact with the public through the media mentioned in the Question are more likely to give a service which meets the public's requirements?

I fully accept what the hon. Gentleman says and there is no Department in closer contact with the public than the Post Office. It is for this reason that we set up the Users' Council, so that the users may be really organised in their representations to us. These exhibitions and displays also help the public to get the most out of the services which we now offer to them, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his comments on the subject.