Dear Sir or Madam,

To ask what percentage of mail the Royal Mail Group declares
lost/stolen. And what steps are being taken to reduce this figure.

To further ask what plans the Royal Mail Group has of raising the
price of a 1st Class Stamp.

Yours faithfully,

Alastair Manderson

Dear Mr Manderson,

Thankyou for your request for information under the Freedom Of Information
Act 2000.

Can you please clarify whether you are requiring the figures in monetary
terms or numbers.

Regards
Roger Mence
[Royal Mail Group request email]

Alastair Manderson
<request-598-445a0961@whatdoth To: FOI requests at Royal Mail Group <[Royal Mail Group request email]>
eyknow.com> cc:
Sent by: Alastair Manderson Subject: Freedom of Information request - Lost Mail / Stamps
<request-598-445a0961@whatdoth
eyknow.com>

24/05/2008 20:52

Dear Sir or Madam,

To ask what percentage of mail the Royal Mail Group declares
lost/stolen. And what steps are being taken to reduce this figure.

To further ask what plans the Royal Mail Group has of raising the
price of a 1st Class Stamp.

Yours faithfully,

Alastair Manderson

show quoted sections

Dear Sir or Madam,

I require the percentage as the number of total pieces of mail
rather than their collected value.

Thank for your patience on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Alastair Manderson

Dear Mr Manderson

Thank you for your request for information received 28 May 2008. Your
request for information has now been considered and, in accordance with our
duty under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I’m writing to advise you
that we cannot provide all of the information you have asked for. You
requested the percentage of mail the Royal Mail Group declares as lost or
stolen. Condition 8 of Royal Mail’s licence does require the company to
provide industry regulator Postcomm with annual estimates of the total
number of postal packets which were lost, stolen, damaged, and interfered
with. However, we consider this data to be exempt from disclosure under
Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act (prejudice to commercial
interests).

Releasing these estimates without similar information from other Licensed
Operators will put Royal Mail at a competitive disadvantage without
enabling customers to make an informed choice. It is our view that the
release of this unpublished data could be reported or presented out of
context by business competitors; whilst the figures are estimates only they
are likely to reported as an absolute figure and not as a percentage of all
mail. Disclosure could therefore unnecessarily and unjustifiably damage
confidence in the entire postal service. At a time when switching from
mail to other media is already in evidence, this could have the consequence
of deterring people from using mail. Also, advice from security experts is
that any publication of criminal activities provides the opportunity for
"copy-cat" criminals. Revealing any details of items affected by theft
could therefore encourage criminal activity.

This provision is subject to the public interest test. Although there is
public interest in the performance of mail services, we believe this
interest is satisfied through reporting to Postcomm and Postwatch and the
publication of our overall performance against nationally agreed targets.
Loss and theft are areas of risk over which Royal Mail is exercising
increasing control and the overwhelming majority of all letters posted
arrive safely at the correct destination. Further, Royal Mail Group is a
publicly owned company and there is a real and direct public interest in
its commercial performance and financial well-being. We believe that, as
the percentage of all mail affected is very small, and there is no
comparative information in order to enable customers to make an informed
choice, releasing the information would act against the public interest in
that it could, unnecessarily and without any justification, damage public
confidence in mail services. Therefore in our view the public interest
lies in maintaining this exemption.

You also asked what plans Royal Mail Group has for raising the price of a
1st Class Stamp. Stamps are a price controlled service and therefore the
level of price increase that Royal Mail can implement is controlled by
condition 21 of the Price Control licence that the regulator Postcomm has
set for us. This licence is valid between 2006-2010 and can be viewed on
the Postcomm website (www.psc.gov.uk).

I am sorry that your request cannot be met in full. If you are
dissatisfied with this response or the handling of your FOI request you do
have a right to request an internal review, in which case please write to
the Head of Information Compliance, Royal Mail House, Company Secretary's
Office, 5th Floor, 148 Old Street, LONDON, EC1V 9HQ. An internal panel
will then review the case, 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.
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Colin Young
Freedom of Information Manager
[Royal Mail Group request email]

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

show quoted sections