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I am perfectly happy to liaise with the Royal Mail Group and with colleagues south of the border to ensure that we can assist the Post Office Ltd during the transitional phase. Since 26 March 2001, the Government's role in the Royal Mail Group has been that of a shareholder in a public limited company.
We know that participation does not come cheap, but we must be imaginative and recognise that resources must be put into participation if it is to work.
In particular, we have increased staffing levels within the parliamentary branch and have introduced new monitoring arrangements. Furthermore, we are in the final stages of developing a new electronic system which we expect will prove to be a useful management tool.
A decision to support the application should not be taken as a precedent that the committee will act similarly any closer to the election because after the new year, the election will be so close that it may be preferable to leave matters to the new session.
Many focus group discussions took place last summer and we have been trying to test the system robustly. It is a new system that maintains many of the features and principles of the previous system; however, it is very much a new system.
The committee agrees that it would like to visit a small rural office. Once we have completed our planned visits and have a sense of how matters are proceeding, we can schedule a visit to a small office.
We must roll things out across the country and continue our investigations, so I want to focus on the committee's visits programme.As part of its evidence-gathering activities for the inquiry, the committee plans to carry out a programme of visits throughout the country.
Order 1999, which was laid before the Parliament on 26 May, be approved. That the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Border Rivers) Order 1999, which was laid before the Parliament on 26 May, be approved.