asked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications what was the average time spent by customers waiting to be served in post offices in the most recent annual period for which figures are available.

This is a matter for the Post Office, which tells me that the information is not available.

Does my right hon. Friend appreciate that this is rather a serious point and that as the Post Office has a monopoly position it is important that it should have special regard to the interests of consumers and the service available to them? Is he satisfied that (he Post Office takes its responsibilities in this matter seriously enough? Does the users' council provide adequate machinery for protecting the public?

The Post Office Users' National Council has, I think, established for itself in the past two or three years a considerable reputation. The Post Office tells me that it has individual figures for offices under inspection and is continually investigating individual offices. What it does not produce—my hon. Friend will recognise, I think, that it might be a fairly meaningless figure—is any overall national figure of this kind.