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Royal Mail

Volume 493: debated on Thursday 11 June 2009

12. To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent progress has been made on the proposed part-privatisation of Royal Mail. (279014)

The process to find a strategic partner for Royal Mail is ongoing. There has been interest and we are pursuing this with the companies concerned. As the Secretary of State has said

“Our criteria, set out clearly in February, make it clear that any strategic partner must be motivated to modernise Royal Mail over the long term, and must offer value for money for the taxpayer. We will not do a deal at any price. There is some way to go and it may well take longer to reach agreement with a partner than it takes to debate and agree this Bill.”

For commercial confidentiality reasons, it would not be appropriate to reveal the identities of the potential partners.