MPs summon the head of the Royal Mail to Parliament to face questions | royal mail

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Royal Mail’s chief executive is set to face a rare summons to Parliament to face questions about the accuracy of the evidence he has presented to a committee of MPs.

Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s chairman, has been summoned again by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategies Committee, after giving evidence in a sometimes difficult exchange last week.

A witness summons by a parliamentary committee is likely to increase the pressure on Thompson, who is already having to deal with a long-running bitter dispute with workers over wages and working conditions, as well as a recent ransomware attack that left Royal crippled. Mail delivery from the UK to other countries.

In a letter to Thompson published on Tuesday, Labor MP Darren Jones, chair of the committee, wrote: “After the hearing I received a great deal of correspondence from Royal Mail staff across the country, challenging some of the statements I had made to the committee. The committee is now not confident that all The answers I gave during the session were completely accurate.”

Thompson testified before the House of Representatives last Tuesday. The committee raised concerns about the accuracy of the evidence he provided about whether the company punished workers on the basis of evidence of productivity trackers, whether workers were instructed to prioritize packages over letters, and the extent of sick pay.

Jones said: “Since Mr Thompson appeared before the Committee last week, we have large amounts of evidence to suggest that his answers may not have been entirely correct.

Giving inaccurate information to a parliamentary committee, whether by accident or otherwise, is taken very seriously. We must get to the bottom of these discrepancies on behalf of Parliament and intend to do so during this further hearing.”

Thank you to all the Royal Mail and Post Office staff who arrived today after the CommonsBEIS hearing on UK Postal Services. Obviously there are more questions to be answered and I will be sure to answer them. pic.twitter.com/Ji85vqB1MY

– Darren Jones MP (@darrenpjones) January 17, 2023

More than 100,000 workers represented by the Communications Workers Union (CWU) went on strike for 18 days last year, with seven days in December alone that included Christmas Eve. The union sent ballot papers on Monday to members to renew its authorization to strike further.

Royal Mail resumed deliveries of international items last week, after a week outage that caused a huge backlog of undelivered items.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We welcome the opportunity to expand on any points the committee would like to make, and share the steps we are taking to resolve this dispute and secure Royal Mail’s long-term future for our staff and customers.

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“As the CWU launches its third industrial strike ballot today, we are seeing an increasingly false narrative being circulated about our dispute over wages and change,” said the spokesperson.

“This is designed to create fear and uncertainty among our staff as the CWU builds support for more damaging strikes, rather than focus on agreeing a deal to deliver what our customers need and increase salaries for our staff who have already lost around £1,800 each after 18 days of strikes.”

A CWU spokesperson said the union welcomed the decision to recall Thompson and added that the allegations “deserve to be taken very seriously.”

The spokesperson said: “Politicians charged by the electorate with carrying out the vetting work as knowledgeably and clearly as possible have significant concerns about Simon Thompson’s dodgy behaviour.”

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