Clause 30
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill
12:00 pm
Susan Kramer (Shadow Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, Trade & Industry; Richmond Park, Liberal Democrat)
It is always dangerous when the hon. Member for Ealing, North is here.
The twofold effect of the amendment is to provide, first, that an affirmative vote of the House is needed for Postwatch to be merged into the new National Consumer Council and, second, that no such order can be made before 2010.
The Minister will have gathered that my party is extremely concerned about the timing of the merger of Postwatch into the NCC. We do not doubt the long-term value of the merger, but we think that the NCC and its role are sufficiently important that the council must start well, function well and serve the long-term purpose in such a way as to be well regarded by consumers in this country. In other words, it should not get off on the wrong foot.
We are also entering a crucial period for the work of the current Postwatch. As we said earlier our debates, and as others have acknowledged, we are facing the closure of probably 2,500 post offices under a compulsory programme. In addition, there will be voluntary closures—there always are. There is every reason to think that the pace of voluntary closure may tend to increase, rather than decrease, as uncertainty is added into the general picture. There is a general sense of a network in decline, rather than a network in revival.
In addition, Postwatch is taking on a second role, because Royal Mail has now informed Postcomm that it wishes to change the way that it prices to business. It is interested in a zonal system, which will have a huge impact on rural businesses, which might well face much higher prices for business post. Initially, the price differential would be small but, from a reading of the details from Royal Mail, it would increase significantly over time if the system were to go ahead.
The same issues will face businesses in outer London, including—I may say, for the purposes of conflict of interest—my constituency. Consumers will be impacted upon, because, undoubtedly, business is likely to change how it communicates—certainly with businesses in rural or suburban areas, given the change in the pricing profile. Postwatch is now taking on the work of surveying business, to feed into the consultation on the issue, which will probably run until at least this November. We are looking at two absolutely massive pieces of work, which, frankly, do not overlap; they are completely different aspects of the mail service.
We were concerned earlier that the core structure of the NCC’s remit is not regionally based. The council has the ability to put in place regional committees, but that is not the core of its structure. However, that is the core of Postwatch. In a sense, that is the mechanism, through Postwatch, which will particularly focus on the closure of those 2,500 post offices and any additional voluntary closures. The Postwatch structure currently works regionally, and that is how staff are organised, how the information flow is managed and how authority spreads throughout the system.
We are looking at those massive pieces of work at the same time as the proposed changeover. Unfortunately, I have spent a significant amount of my life in business organisations going through great change. From direct knowledge, I can assure the Committee that nobody ever overestimates the damage to morale that happens in a period of uncertainty and change. It is always underestimated. The impact will be devastating, even on people who are responsible and determined to carry out their job well and to function best—in this case, for this country’s consumers. The uncertainties are shared by families, friends and neighbours. The people affected must make decisions about whether they are going to move, and they do not really know whether they will have a job or quite what is entailed. There is no way to give adequate reassurance. We will be asking people not only to function in that particularly difficult environment, but to carry out those two major cases of work.
It is also evident from our discussions in prior phases of the Committee and today that much of the work that needs to be done to implement transition is still in its early days. How is a vulnerable postal customer identified? If someone calls in to complain about a letter, how do we know whether they are vulnerable if we know nothing about their income, their background or their history? All kinds of questions must be answered before the NCC can step in properly to fulfil its remit.
We are not opposed to the merger of Postwatch into the NCC, but it must be done with clarity and effectively. If it is rushed, that causes various problems. To rush it in the context of two crucial and critical pieces of work that will have a great impact on both consumers and businesses is asking for a disaster in the NCC’s early days and would fail the public. This is a crucial set of issues, and I urge the Government to think again, and 2010 would seem the ideal date to aim for. Let us make sure that everything is done and dusted, and done well, and that the public have been properly served before making this change. The NCC is a body to be there for the long term; it loses nothing by having a little patience at the start.