Union slams parcel sell-off
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• A Whitehall row has erupted over Government plans to privatise the Civil Service's in-house parcel delivery system.
According to Tony Bell of the National Union of Civil and Public Servants: "The InterDepartmental Dispatch Service and the self-drive car, van and truck services all rely on vetted civil servants delivering and maintaining the vehicles. . . unlike the Post Office — where parcel bombs have been discovered — this service has never been penetrated by any subversive or terrorist group. Yet, merely for dogmatic purposes, it is now to be sold off."
The union says it is "amazed" that the Government has even considered allowing private sector parcels carriers to deliver into Whitehall departments and Parliament. The civil service unions, which will be asking MPs to take up their case, are angry because they claim that they were earlier told that any privatisation moves would be preceded by assurances on security. This has not happened.
It has been confirmed that the unions were only informed of the Government's plans to sell off the parcels system just before Christmas.