Simon Thompson’s second outing before the business select committee wasn’t much of an improvement on the first. Royal Mail’s chief executive was less abrasive than in January, which at least suggested he’d taken advice on how not to instantly annoy a crew of MPs. But the problem was still his answers.
On the troubled issues of PDAs – the “postal digital assistant” devices carried by posties on delivery rounds – Thompson had to admit that performance data had been used in 16 conduct cases. For a tool that is supposed to be used solely for balancing workloads, that sounded to the MPs like a breach of corporate policy. On sick pay, it was hard to tell what – if any – provision Royal Mail had made for workers unable to navigate the herculean task of getting an appointment with a GP and thus a sicknote.
