Questions
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much capital will be needed to fund their proposals to reform Royal Mail. [HL259]
Royal Mail has said that its transformation plans will cost around £2.1 billion. The company will use retained profits to fund the investment and the Government have also made available £1.2 billion of debt facilities to help Royal Mail implement its plans.
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the Compass Group report on the Hooper report on Royal Mail. [HL260]
The depth of analysis in the Compass report did not bear serious comparison with Hooper.
Richard Hooper carried out a robust and thorough analysis with access to commercially confidential information provided by Royal Mail and its competitors and taking evidence from many organisations and individuals with an interest in the future of the postal sector.
We believe the Compass report on Hooper and its subsequent report on alternatives did not seem to be driven by evidence, but by an ideological imperative to identify any solution that avoided a partner taking a stake of even 1 per cent in Royal Mail.
Asked by
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are continuing to seek a new part purchaser of Royal Mail. [HL261]
As announced in July, market conditions made it impossible to conclude the process to identify a partner for the Royal Mail on terms that we could be confident would secure value for the taxpayer.
When market conditions improve we will return to the issue.