USO Research Workshop

Earlier in the month Postwatch hosted a workshop on its forthcoming USO research project, which will, amongst other things, attempt to assess the value of the universal service obligation to the citizen.

Individuals attended from a wide range of organisations, including Royal Mail, Postcomm, the National Consumer Council, energywatch, Oxera, DEBRR and the Mail Competition Forum.

The workshop provided a useful platform to debate the research and allowed stakeholders to contribute their views on the key issues surrounding the USO. The research is expected to be completed by December 2007.

Postcomm (3): the USO

The afternoon section of this year's Postcomm London Forum, held earlier this week, consisted of a series of discussion panels. Postwatch's contribution came in the panel on the future of the universal service obligation.

Speaking for us, Council member Roger Darlington argued that there was no evidence of political or consumer wishes to make significant changes in the USO at the present time, but he acknowledged that falling mail volumes and loss of market share by Royal Mail was likely to make the funding of the USO increasingly problematic.

Defining and defending the USO

This week, we've been blogging on a couple of international conferences concerned with the postal business. Postwatch made a particular contribution to the session on "The role of the Universal Service Obligation".

Joost Vantomme, the Director for Regulatory Affairs at Belgian Post, spoke to the title "The preservation of the USO requires a legally certain and secure financing in case of the removal of the reserved area", while Almast Diedrich, Head of Public Affairs at TNT Post (the Dutch postal service) had as the title of his address "The USO is a commercial advantage for posts and needs no subsidy".

The speaker for Postwatch was our Council member for the Greater London Region, Roger Darlington. He was given the title: "How important is a USO in an age of multiple communication channels?" He suggested that implicit in the title given him was the suggestion that the widespread use of e-mail and the Internet meant that the current USO was no longer necessary. He pointed out, however, that in the UK:

• Some 39% of homes are not connected to the Internet.
• Older consumers are proportionately more likely not to be connected - only 30% of those aged over 65.
• Poorer consumers are proportionately more likely not to be connected - only 36% of low income households.
• Consumers with special needs have problems with use of the Net.

So he acknowledged that the scope and funding of the USO have to be kept under review and could not be regarded as fixed, but argued that currently there was no case for viewing the USO as less important.

EDM on postal services

An Early Day Motion (EDM) is a Parliamentary device to draw attention to a matter in the House of Commons. Labour MP for Luton North Kelvin Hopkins has just sponsored this EDM on postal services:

"That this House welcomes the commitment from the Labour Party in its General Election Manifesto 2005 that it will review the impact on the Royal Mail of market liberalisation, which is being progressively introduced under the Postal Services Act 2000 and which allows alternative carriers to the Royal Mail to offer postal services; notes that the manner in which competition has been introduced has resulted in Royal Mail losing 40 per cent. of its high revenue access products in three years and that this rate of losses will raise a question over the financing of the Universal Service Obligation by Royal Mail; further notes that there are options which the review can examine to support the Universal Delivery Service Obligation, such as a support fund or a supplement to the access price charged for competitors who currently receive the benefit of Royal Mail's Universal Service without paying for it; and calls upon the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to ensure that the promised review is begun without delay."