Royal Mail CEO recalled to Parliament along with Keith Williams

[CheersDrive]

I don't think I watched the entirety of the last select committee - I don't remember hearing them ask Simon Thompson about the appalling service Royal Mail are providing to customers. The cynical understaffing, the disregard for the USO - this is the key thing to probe him on.

Yes, the tory mp questioned him on this. She used figures provided by citizens advice showing how letters are failed more than parcels. She then proceeded to grill him on whether it was policy to prioritise parcels, then Darren Jones did his mic drop moment with 'the' poster!

[enskied]

Its all very well and proper that we dig at Thompson and Williams .

But the people who lie to us every day, day in day out are our DOMS, COMS every day
They are not unaware they are complicit

[Barnacle]

I’m more interested in how Mr Williams is dealt with. We all know ST is a puppet in all this.

I read on Twitter, via the Twitter comments on this thread (page 1 or 2) that some RM Mechanics were saying that RM has started to send vehicles out for maintenance/repair, on a trail basis, to Halfords. Guess who is on the Board of Halfords?

"Keith Williams CBE is a British businessman who has been chairman of Halfords and Royal Mail since 2018. He was chief executive officer of British Airways from 2011 to 2016." extract from Wikipedia

Oh FGS

Fingers in all the pies.

[SSkUNkY]

You don't waste time with underlings you go to the person pulling the strings and destroy them.

[ddtc]

I’m more interested in how Mr Williams is dealt with. We all know ST is a puppet in all this.

I read on Twitter, via the Twitter comments on this thread (page 1 or 2) that some RM Mechanics were saying that RM has started to send vehicles out for maintenance/repair, on a trail basis, to Halfords. Guess who is on the Board of Halfords?

"Keith Williams CBE is a British businessman who has been chairman of Halfords and Royal Mail since 2018. He was chief executive officer of British Airways from 2011 to 2016." extract from Wikipedia

Oh FGS

Fingers in all the pies.

Yep, van went to a local halfords today at mine

[TopperGas]

All this is a huge distraction.

I carnt believe how people have become obsessed with this charade.
Entertaining certainly.
Good to see the hypocrisy and lies out in the open.


But….


Meanwhile in every office in the country the termites are at work,

If ST & KW come across as complete charlatans or KW throws ST under the bus at the next meeting it may help our position, as if they both stay in their jobs I can't really see any hope for our jobs.

[DB1100]

Someone should have a quiet word with old Simon, hand him the mess Webley and a glass of whiskey and suggest that he does the decent thing.

[Mr Rush]

Surely a CEO knows the difference between Full Time and permanent staff, I feel it was just trying to hoodwink the PC into thinking the majority of staff were FT

Like the PVA/PDA confusion, you'd think he'd simply ask for clarification. Instead, it's more like a police interview in which he says as little as possible (in the informational sense) lest it be used to hang him.

[stevejm]

Surely the committee only need to ask how many staff we have on an OPG hourly rate.

Then what our wage bill is.

And how can that be if 97% are on 37 hours per week.


You don’t need a chief financial officer to figure that one out.

This has already been clarified.....it's 97% permanent contracts.

not in my d.o - of seventy posties at least 7 and probably closer to 10 are agency so only 85-90% permanent

[jagger]

I’m more interested in how Mr Williams is dealt with. We all know ST is a puppet in all this.

I read on Twitter, via the Twitter comments on this thread (page 1 or 2) that some RM Mechanics were saying that RM has started to send vehicles out for maintenance/repair, on a trail basis, to Halfords. Guess who is on the Board of Halfords?

"Keith Williams CBE is a British businessman who has been chairman of Halfords and Royal Mail since 2018. He was chief executive officer of British Airways from 2011 to 2016." extract from Wikipedia

If true and not just idle rumour it's another one to be forwarded on to the select committee

Definitely true. Happening at our office. Though could just be MOTs.

[postslippete]

Keith Williams is something of an unknown quantity in our business preferring to take a backseat role whilst frontman Simon Thompson takes all the flak.


And you would have thought that Keith might have been more proactive in helping his partner in crime to resolve the dispute with the CWU; especially when considering that he managed to end the row with the British Airways cabin crew in his previous post. He has plenty of experience of leading Unionised industries so why on earth didn't he take the lead at Royal Mail when things seem to be spiralling massively out of control??

Then again, you could argue that he is far from perfect especially with his review of the train network along with Grant Shapps. I don't know much about the governments plan for the Great British Railways but I do know that there have been constant rail strikes ever since.... Keith also appointed Rico Back and we all know how that went. He lasted about a year and how much money did Rico cost?? And he walked away with millions of shares too.

I'm sure Keith will be more articulate in his answers though whereas Simon Thompson really should leave while he has the chance. Anyone can see that he's to full of his own importance without any care for his staff. Only my opinion though.

[jbo5066]

Just posted on workplace..

Darren Jones MP
5 m · Date announcement: my Committee will question Royal Mail boss on 22nd FebruaryI know many of you have been waiting eagerly for the date to be set for Simon Thompson, the Chief Executive of Royal Mail, to give further evidence to my Committee. Mr Thompson is being recalled after doubts were cast over the accuracy of statements he made to my Committee in January.The session will begin at 2.15pm and will also feature Royal Mail’s Chairman Keith Williams. I'll share a clip after the session (of course!), but you can also watch it live on Parliament TV - just click on 'Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee' on the event guide on the day: https://parliamentlive.tv/GuideTo keep you informed, please see below Mr Thompson's response to my Committee's letter to recall him: https://committees.parliament.uk/.../do ... 7/default/

[pieoftheday]

Link to simons letter doesn't work for me?

[jbo5066]

Nor for me, and it doesn't seem to work on workplace either, unless I'm doing something wrong to be honest, I'm not that tech savvy, just copied the post as it appeared...

[jbo5066]

Mr Darren Jones MP
Chair of the BEIS Select Committee
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
185 Farringdon Road
London
EC1A 1AA
www.royalmail.com
26 January 2023
Dear Mr Jones,
Thank you for your letter dated 24 January 2023. We are in contact with the Clerk to the Committee to make
arrangements for a second evidence session. The Chairman and I welcome the opportunity to discuss any
points on which the Committee has questions or concerns, and to share the steps we are taking to resolve
this dispute and secure the long-term future of Royal Mail for our people and customers.
In your letter you explain that you have been contacted by a number of Royal Mail employees regarding the
use of Postal Digital Assistants (PDAs), parcel and letter prioritisation, and our sickness pay policy, and that
you will provide us with copies of the material, anonymised, before the second evidence session.
When we receive the material we will of course consider it in detail and I would be happy to expand on the
points made in my evidence to the Committee. We would welcome sight of all of the material as soon as
possible so that we can give it due consideration.
I would also like to extend an invitation to each member of the Committee to come and see how we use
PDAs on a day-to-day basis in delivery offices around the country ahead of the evidence session, and to see
how our processes work in terms of delivering parcels and letters together.
Your letter also invited me to write to the Committee on two points following the recent evidence session,
relating to external advisers and quality of service for letter and parcel deliveries.
1) External advisers advising the company on the transformation of Royal Mail (Questions 33-35)
You asked which external consultancies are advising on the transformation of Royal Mail. Royal Mail has
worked with a range of advisers to inform its approach to managing the significant decline in letters and
ensure we can grow our parcels business in an intensely competitive market.
In the current financial year, we worked with Korn Ferry on the reorganisation of the operational
management structure, and Boston Consulting Group supported us with our strategy around growth and the
network. At the 2022-23 half year results, we set out a five-point plan to restore cash generation and
operating profitability for Royal Mail. While the work on the plan was led by Royal Mail, the team worked
with advisers at Alvarez & Marsal and Deloitte on our operational transformation and to stress test the business plan.

Cont…
Royal Mail Group Ltd, registered in England and Wales, number 4138203, registered office: 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ.
© Royal Mail Group Ltd – Page 2 of 2
We have contractual agreements with all suppliers of consultancy services, based on responsible
procurement practices. Given our agreements with the advisers mentioned above, we have informed them
that we are writing to you today.
2) Further evidence on whether customers are more likely to experience delays to letters than
parcels (Question 80)
You asked for evidence on whether customers are more likely to experience delays to letters than parcels.
Our most recent Universal Service Quality of Service data demonstrates that performance for letters is
marginally better than that for parcels across both first and second class mail1
.
. The figures are set out below:
First class
mail
First class
letters
First class
parcels
Second
class mail
Second
class letters
Second class
parcels
Target 93% 98.5%
Q1 2022-23 85.1% 85.6% 82.1% 96.1% 96.6% 93.5%
Q2 2022-23 72.6% 73.0% 70.3% 91.3% 91.8% 88.8%
As I said when I appeared before the Committee, I am committed to improving our Quality of Service
performance and apologise to customers who may have been impacted by service levels recently, especially
as a result of 18 days of industrial action. We are working hard to get our service back to where we and our
customers expect it to be.
I hope the above is helpful, and I look forward to receiving the further information on the additional points
you raised in your letter.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Thompson
Chief Executive, Royal Mail
1 Performance for Q1 and Q2 is based on data published on 26th August and 11th November 2022 available on our