Dear Mr Grierson-Hill

Re: Freedom of Information Request

I am writing in response to your request for information which was submitted online on 27^th August under the two references shown above. You requested the following information under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act:

“I would kindly like to ask two questions of the royal mail's first class postal service that guarantees next day delivery.”

“Firstly are you able to confirm that 100% of all first class post will arrive on the next day, and moreover that 100% of all post sent will not be lost, i.e. every piece of post will arrive.”

“Secondly, are you able to provide a figure of how much post is currently lost each year?”

By the first class service which guarantees next day delivery, we have understood your request to relate to Royal Mail's `Special Delivery Next Day' service. Please note that with normal First Class mail, although we aim to deliver mail the next working day, we cannot guarantee delivery times. Specific details of our Special Delivery service, and all other services, are available from our website (www.royalmail.com) using the link below:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content3?mediaId=22700549&catId=400026

Here you can find a full explanation of the next day guarantee. Also provided on the website are details of the compensation offered for late delivery, damage or loss in the event that something goes wrong.

Royal Mail Group publishes Quality of Service reports for the Special Delivery Service on our website www.royalmailgroup.com. For 2008/09 the reported performance was 98.6%.

In relation to your second question which asked whether we are able to provide a figure of how much post is currently lost each year. I can confirm that we hold an estimate of the number of items lost in the last financial year. However, this information is considered to be exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. Royal Mail considers that disclosing the requested information would prejudice its commercial interests. Our Special Delivery service competes in an open market against many competitors offering guaranteed next-day services. We do not know of any competitor who publishes similar information and if Royal Mail was to release such data, rivals would be likely to utilise this information in a way which would place Royal Mail at a clear commercial disadvantage. In addition, as no other competitor is required to publish similar information, customers would not be able to use this information to inform their choice of postal operator or product.

This information would also be likely, if disclosed, to give a misleading impression of Royal Mail's performance. Any negative representation of the information would therefore, unfairly damage customer perception of Royal Mail and customer confidence in these specific products.

The exemption under section 43(2) is subject to the public interest test. The public interest would not be served by placing Royal Mail at a commercial disadvantage in the postal market. We believe that there is very strong public interest in a healthy, efficient and competitive market and consider that there is strong public interest in a commercially viable Royal Mail. In our opinion therefore, the public interest lies in maintaining this exemption and withholding the requested information.

I am sorry that your request cannot be met on this occasion. However, if for any reason you are not satisfied with this response; you do have the right to request a review. If you wish to do so please set out in writing your grounds of appeal and send to the Head of Information Compliance, Royal Mail Group, Company Secretary's Office, 100 Victoria Embankment, LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ. An internal panel will then review the decision, and you will be advised of the outcome.

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not satisfied with our response you also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Cont…

25 September 2009