Hooper To Re-Visit His Report For ConDem Government

24.06.10

The BiS department today announced they were inviting Richard Hooper to "refresh" his report into the future of Royal Mail. Richard Hooper had initially written a report in December 2008 that made a series of recommendations on Royal Mail that included modernisation, the need to resolve the pension deficit and a proposal on privatisation. The report became the foundation of the Postal Services Bill that the union successfully campaigned against and was ultimately withdrawn.

Today, Business secretary Vince Cable has asked Mr Hooper to update the report on the maintenance of the universal postal service in the uk. Mr Hooper is scheduled to review his findings and present his initial views in the summer with publication of a full update by early autumn.

CWU has responded to the news by calling on Mr Hooper to acknowledge that the union and Royal Mail have made significant and successful progress on modernisation through the Business transformation agreement and to support the stability that this has brought to the company. Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, has said that it is important for Mr Hooper to realise that "the company is in the process of successful transformation and the last thing the country needs is the stale idea of shareholders being concerned more about dividends than delivery".

The union has again called for the government to withdraw plans for privatisation and work with Royal Mail and the union on maintaining the transformation of the company in the public sector and resolve the pensions deficit.