Annex C
POST OFFICE ETC
The Post Office, Third Report of Session 1997-98,
HC 380: Government Response, Fifth Special Report, HC 684
1. The Committee devoted considerable attention
to the Post Office in the 1992 Parliament, culminating in a 1995
Report which proposed the conversion of the Post Office into a
plc. The new Government announced a further options overview in
May 1997, and the Committee decided to hear oral evidence in November
1997. It reported in January 1998.
2. The Committee backed the idea of a publicly-owned
company status: a commercial dividend policy: a scheme of regulation:
and maintenance of the network.
3. The Reply, received on 6 April 1998,
welcomed the Committee's Report as a "timely contribution",
and set out the terms of an announcement made that day by the
President of the Board of Trade on a second phase of the review,
intended to reach conclusions on many of the specific matters
raised by the Committee.
4. The Committee has returned to the subject
in a Special Report in December 1998, covering oral evidence heard
that month, and in Reports in September 1999 and November 2000.
| 
