Dear Sir or Madam,

What value of mail the Royal Mail Group declares lost/stolen.

What value of mail posted.

Yours faithfully,

Jake Brown

Dear Mr Brown

I am writing in response to your request for information dated 12 July
2008. You asked what value of mail Royal Mail Group declares as lost or
stolen. Unfortunately it is not possible to know the value of mail sent
via Royal Mail, and therefore the value of mail that is lost or stolen. We
do produce annual estimates of the total number of postal packets which
were lost, stolen, damaged, and interfered with, and this is the closest
information we hold that may be relevant to your request.

However, I am unable to provide these estimates as we consider this data to
be exempt from disclosure under Section 43 of the Freedom of Information
Act (prejudice to commercial interests). This exemption applies because
releasing these estimates without similar information from other Licensed
Operators would put Royal Mail at a competitive disadvantage. 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view that the release of this unpublished data could be reported or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 and represent only a tiny fraction of all mail sent, they
are likely to be reported as an absolute figure and not as a percentage of
all mail. Disclosure could therefore unnecessarily and unjustifiably
damage confidence in the postal service and, as none of our competitors
publish similar information, would not allow customers to make an informed
choice about the postal operator or service they wish to use . At a time
when switching from mail to other media is already in evidence and the
postal market is open to full competition, we believe that this would
significantly prejudice Royal Mail's commercial interests.

This exemption 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 is an area 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 justification, damage public confidence in mail
services. Therefore in our view the public interest lies in maintaining
this exemption.

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

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