asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) whether he has given consideration to the restoration of a telegram service in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement;(2) what is his assessment of the savings resulting from the ending of the telegram service since its termination;(3) what representations he has received calling for the restoration of the telegram service;(4) how many tele-messages have been sent in each year since the termination of the telegram; and how many telegrams were sent in the equivalent period before termination;(5) what profit or loss has been made by the tele-message service each year since its inception;(6) what proportion of tele-messages were delivered within 24 hours in each year since the termination of the telegram.

I have to say that the questions asked are primarily matters that are the responsibility of BT and the details of the services it offers are a matter for its commercial judgment within the terms of its licence and current legislation. However, I can say that I have received no recent representations about the ending of the inland telegram service nor proposals for the establishment of a new service. I regret that I am unable to provide some of the information requested as this can only be supplied by BT and I understand is commercially confidential.